What If?
by Kathryn Winters
Summary: Summary inside but basically the idea that started this story is: "What if Twilight weren't just a fictional story?" So inspiration suddenly just got very adult so rating is now M. ENJOY R
1. Summary

What if?

What if the world of Twilight wasn't just a work of fiction? What if we start at the beginning and meet the characters one by one? Well I've written this as a tale of three friends who go off to Forks hoping to just have a weekend to themselves and find a much bigger journey. They'll find romance, angst, revenge and above all Twilight Characters come to life. Join Kat, Tiffany and Katie as they journey into the world of Twilight.

**A/N: So this is the updated version of the summary. Feels a bit more epic and a little more like you have to read more to find out what the story is about. Enjoy**


	2. Apetite Wetter

**A/N: Just a little something to wet your appatite for this story. If you try it out please review and let me know how you like it and any changes you might think will make it better. You can also trade the Watkins cider brew for any of your own cider I just love the taste of this brand but it can be kind of expensive if you're used to instant stuff.**

Blood for Humans

2 teaspoons Watkins Traditional Cider Brew  
1 packet Ruby Red Grapefruit Crystal Light Sunrise  
1 packet Raspberry Ice Crystal Light  
4 ½ cups of water  
½ teaspoon cornstarch  
½ cup of sugar

Directions

Mix cornstarch, sugar and half of water. Dissolve cornstarch completely. The cornstarch is the key to the consistency and texture.

Mix both Crystal Light packets in with the rest of the water.

Mix both water mixtures together in a pot. Bring to a boil stirring every once in a while.

Reduce to medium heat. Put cider brew into a tea ball, put tea ball into mixture and let sit for 8 minutes.

Remove from heat. If you wish to serve later that day move mixture right from the stove to the freezer for an hour and a half.

Serving

Put wine glasses in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Remove from freezer and pour blood juice in.

Serve as-is or add your own flair and style to it.


	3. Book One

**Book One: Katie, Tiffany and Kat**

**Friday – July 6, 2012**

We drove down the road in near silence. It was the year that everything would change; especially if what a lot of people thought would come true. That's right the end of the world. What we didn't know was that it would be the end of our world, as we knew it and much more.

Tiffany sat in the front with me fiddling with the radio, her long blonde hair billowing out in the breeze as we had the top of my Jeep off in the warm summer light. Her eyes hidden by a pair of dark sunglasses, though I knew they were a kind of blue that seemed unreal, it was so pale and yet so vibrant that I sometimes wondered if she were as human as the rest of us. She glanced at me then as if she could tell I had something on my mind and her strong almost Viking-like voice hit me with its usual power, "Eyes on the road Katie."

I looked back in front of me slightly embarrassed by my lack of focus. When she finally settled on a radio station we all knew the song that was playing and of course had to sing along. It was just who we were that we were so at home on the road like this. It was times like this that I knew I'd miss. And that was what drew my attention to Kat sitting in the back seat, holding a book, well more of a manuscript type book that I assumed was more of Tiffany's work. Her short brown hair barely reached her shoulders in an angled bob that looked so at home on her head and her deep yet smoldering brown eyes below her sunglasses were all too visible as she scanned the pages of paper. In our group of three she was the shy one, Tiffany was the hardcore almost fighter-chick and that left me to be the smart somehow level headed one of the group.

"You really should read this when you're, you know, not driving," Kat said in her light sing-songy voice that made me feel all the more like I was her long lost older sister.

"I'll be sure to do that when we have a bit of downtime," I replied. I tried to envision what the three of us looked like to passersby; Tiffany with her long blonde hair, Kat with her short brown hair and me with my shoulder blade long, curly, brilliant red hair and my vibrant green eyes. Especially with us singing along to the radio.

"Oh the hell with this," Kat said bringing me out of my thoughts, "Put in our CD! I'd rather sing along to my own voice and know there's a song coming up that I'll like than listen to this station any longer!"

She handed me the CD from the back and Tiffany put it into the player of my Jeep Wrangler. We'd recorded it a few weeks ago. I'd gotten a big break as far as money was concerned and we'd gone to record our favorite songs or slightly altered versions of them. Our three voices together were amazing. We had perfect harmony and melodies together and we'd only figured it out a little over a year ago when we'd decided to sing Evanescence "Bring Me to Life" at a karaoke night. And of course that was the first song we recorded for our CD together.

I felt so carefree singing along to our CD, like life could never get any better than this being with my two best friends. It was then that of course everything changed. We were singing along to our version of The Band Perry's "If I Die Young" when it happened. I was driving just a little too fast and I noticed the elk too late. I hit it at a horrible 65 miles per hour and it sent us flying off the large animal into a larger pine tree. We'd all been wearing seatbelts but I somehow found myself lying on the ground in a pile of broken glass and a lot of my own blood. Everything hurt and I felt like I'd broken at least a handful of bones. I heard Tiffany's and Kat's groans as if they were feeling the same that I was and I knew right there we were all going to die.

"If I die young burry me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses…" I sang knowing the end was closing in when I couldn't keep my eyes open.

"Sink me in the river at dawn…" Tiffany's voice joined mine and I could hear that she knew it was the end too.

"Send me away with the words of a love song…" Kat was the last to join in and her voice sounded the most broken of us all.

We were all singing now and I could almost imagine the three of us dressed in white satin dresses assending to heaven or whatever death held for us. "Make me a rainbow I'll shine down on my mother, she'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh, life ain't all you think it aut to be ain't even gray but she burries her baby…" I was going to miss them and our time together most of all.

"The sharp knife of a short life, oh but you haven't had enough time," there was another voice among us now and it was male singing with us. And though I couldn't open my eyes I knew it wasn't help with an ambulance. On top of the pain of dying and the pain that I was feeling from the wreck I somehow managed to find more pain when the presence of this stranger seemed overwhelming. Maybe Death wasn't just a character in horror movies, maybe he'd come to take us all to whatever lied ahead and with this new thought I found no comfort, just consuming blackness. I tried to open my eyes to look into the face of uncertainty but all I felt was the burning pain and I knew then that the stranger had lit my body on fire. When I heard the screams of my friends added to what I had to assume was my own I knew that the stranger had done the same to them.

So much for living past the end of the world.

**A/N: So this is the first chapter/book whatever redone! Hope you guys like it please let me know with a review if you liked it or if you hated it. Don't worry more will come up soon. For those of you that have read the previous version please tell me if you liked this one better or if you liked the other one better.**


	4. Book Two

**Book Two: James**

**Monday – July 9, 2012**

I woke with a start, my only memory from before of the image that I saw like I was floating outside my body in a pile of broken glass and a pool of my blood. I shook my head trying to clear it before I got my bearings. What I kept seeing had to have been a dream. All the blood, the broken glass, the smashed car lying in front of me on the side of the road, Tiffany, Kat and I singing together as if we knew our end were coming. It was a nightmare. Then I remembered more; the stranger's voice that was calm and yet somehow the most frightening thing I'd ever heard, not being able to open my eyes when I felt my body burning with such intensity I must have been on fire. Then there were the memories that at the time I must have thought were of me after I'd died, being carried at what seemed like incredible speed through the trees of the forest and finally being able to open my eyes to see the handsome face of a blonde, muscular god.

I shook my head again to try and clear these thoughts. I obviously wasn't dead so it must have all been a dream. Then I took in my surroundings. I wasn't anywhere I remembered. The white clean pressed sheets and duvet cover over me were not mine nor did they smell like mine. Everything in this room smelled oddly good though. Like fresh baked berry pie, not too sweet but with the natural sweetness of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. I looked around the room and noticed clothes hanging on the wall with a note.

_The accident was too bad, hope these fit._

It was a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. I noticed then that the clothes hanging loosely on my body were shredded looking like glass had been blown through them. I changed quickly not sure what else to expect from this strange sort of experience and then decided I needed to look in a mirror and see if this so called accident that I seemed to remember so vividly had done anything harmful to the way I looked.

As I looked around for a mirror I found a bathroom and decided I must be in a hotel or motel room, though I had no recollection of entering one, even in my strange dream-like memories. But I entered knowing there would be a mirror there. But when I looked at my reflection I had to double-take. It didn't look like me staring back from the mirror. My face was more angular than I'd remembered it being and my skin was so sickly white that I knew I'd at least had a little pink in it before. But then there were my eyes staring back at me…there was no way to describe how horrified I was looking at this reflection. My eyes were red. A sort of sickly red like the pool of my blood I remembered being in and it only emphasized the brilliant red of my curly hair that fell in ringlets around my face.

I took a deep breath in that felt hollow and I realized it was the first breath I'd taken since I'd woken only moments ago. "This is a dream right?" I whispered to myself, testing my own voice. It sounded higher than I'd remembered it but maybe that was the effect of the solid windpipes that I could feel in my throat.

It was then I suddenly felt eyes on me. And somehow I managed to hear a voice when my newly heightened hearing heard no lips moving. _Maybe I should have said something to her before turning her._ The voice said and I realized now that it was in my head.

I spun around and saw the blonde man from my strange dream state. "Who are you?" I asked the first question that came to mind when I saw his blood-red eyes that matched mine, "What are you?"

"My name is James. I am a vampire, and so are you," he said in a voice that fell like silk over my ears. It was calming in the way that made my skin crawl with unease and fear.

The next thing that came to mind was that I'd felt as if I'd seen him before somewhere, "Where am I?" I asked ignoring the familiarity.

"In a cabin in the Cascade Mountains. You were driving on the peninsula when you hit an elk, can you remember that?" he pressed and suddenly his voice held no fear over me. He wanted me to remember but what exactly was hard for me to grasp.

I thought hard about the few memories I had. The blood and glass and my broken body stood out most to me. But if I thought a bit harder I could make out driving and feeling carefree with Kat and Tiffany in the car with me. I could remember the brilliant sun and how wonderfully warm it felt on my skin, which was when I realized that I was far colder to the touch than ice. "I can remember driving and my friends," then the new thought hit me: Kat and Tiffany screaming with me as if we were all set aflame, "Where are my friends?"

"Your friends are fine for the moment. I need you to remember what happened. Focus," James ordered.

I tried to focus on the memories; I shut my eyes and tried to play the events over in my head. I really did try…but all that kept entering my mind was death and blackness and that horrible sound of their screams. And then it was like the world had rushed into my head I saw all of my memories from the past day flowing together in a swift reel that was almost like a video clip in fast forward and then it slowed almost to a stop when I saw the elk in the road looking at the car, at me, eye to eye. It was like he'd stopped and waited for us knowing that when he died our deaths would be shortly after. He was not afraid; if anything he was doing this on purpose. And then it happened, my car hit him at full force bouncing off only long enough to hit a tree by the side of the road. The force was enough to throw all three of us from the car, even with our seat belts on. There was glass everywhere, blood everywhere and the saddest song playing between the three of us until the stranger had come and sung, _You haven't had enough time_. My eyes threw themselves open and I felt as if I needed air. I gasped and gasped for air feeling as if I couldn't pull enough air into my lungs. "You saved us?" the words didn't sound right on my lips.

"Yes," James replied, "You remember everything now?"

"Yes. You tried to take us to the hospital. The doctors wouldn't even let you in with the three of us bleeding so badly… Why would someone turn away three dying people? It was a hospital!" my emotions raged inside of me and I couldn't tell anymore how I had so many of them.

"You deserved to live longer, even if it's not quite life," James said.

"Was the game not fun enough for you since it was an elk that sealed our fate instead of you?" I asked seeing his thoughts flicker to a chase and a deadly game.

"That chase was not for you. It was a memory of a time before you. I saw three girls in the prime of their lives dying because of a stupid animal and wanted to help is that so wrong?" James asked.

"Yes, because that's not who you are. You live for your games. What stopped you from letting us die? Or better yet, we were ripe for the picking and you didn't drain us dry, why did you do that?" I growled.

"I don't know. There was something about you three that just seemed right that seemed life-like. I just knew you needed to live," James said but his thoughts were saying, _Wait till she asks, if she asks how she can repay your kindness then it's okay to use her and her friends._

"I will not ask how I can repay you for your kindness! There was no kindness just selfish gain!" I growled and suddenly he was slightly afraid. I was a newborn, he was thinking, and I was stronger than him, "Tell me what you were planning on asking us to do before I decide to rip your head off. And don't try bluffing that I can't because not only do your eyes give away you can but your thoughts to too."

"You can hear my thoughts?" James asked.

"Stop avoiding the question," I growled.

"If you can hear my thoughts why do you need to ask?" he was getting cocky again.

"Don't you want to know if I even want to help you with whatever it is you want? I mean I know it's not normal for people or vampires to be able to hear thoughts but that's beside the point," I loved holding this over him.

"I want Isabella Swan," James said and it suddenly dawned on me why I thought I'd seen him before. Cam Gigandet had done an excellent job at looking like his character in Twilight but the vampire that stood before me was more well-muscled and actually wore a t-shirt and sneakers.

"You're telling me that Twilight characters exist?" was all I could think to say.

"Where's your confidence now?" James asked.

He was starting to sound more and more like the character from the books I remembered so well. It frightened me honestly, but it also calmed and exhilarated me. This bad-ass wants the girl dead because it's a fun game thing that he had going was almost sexy in a way. "I'd also like a cheeseburger but I don't think that'd settle well," I mocked, suddenly this game was fun.

"Ya, I wouldn't try the cheeseburger thing, it won't even taste good anymore. Just go for the human jugular and I promise your hunger will be satisfied," James had caught on to my game too quickly but I figured it was because of his tracking abilities – he could probably read people more easily than I could now hear people's thoughts.

"What do I get if I help you?" I asked no more games. I wanted the score settled on who got what and where it left my friends and I.

"Whatever you want. I'm sure you can blend into society if you wanted. I mean the Cullens have done it so it can't be all that hard. Or you could live on the edge and pick off the weak and sickly like most of us do. I really don't give a damn what you and your friends do. I just want Bella and if I can have a fun little game from the beginning then that's all the better," James said sadistically.

"So you enlisted my friends and I to do what exactly? Go play high school and become BFF's with Bella and get her away from Edward long enough for you to drain her dry and then do what? Pull out some hidden cameras and go 'gotcha!'" I said.

"That's one way to do it. I really don't care how it happens I just want to have a bit of fun with a game and get my prize and continue on my way. The fiery death in the books is not what I have in mind for how this little game ends," James said.

"I want to see my friends first," I said.

James silently led me into another room where Tiffany was lying face down on a bed similar to the one I woke up in only hers was black. "I love what you've done with the place. It totally screams 'Tiffany.'" I said and she bolted upright.

"Oh great you're alive too!" It was honestly the happiest I'd seen Tiffany in a long time, "What about Kat?"

I looked at James who lead the two of us into a third room done up in purple rather than Tiffany's and my black and white. Kat was in the corner of the room, curled into a ball with her hair a total mess. But when we entered her red eyes light up and she instantly flitted over, graceful as if she wasn't walking but gliding, and wrapped her arms around us, "I thought we were all dead," she said and I could hear tears in her voice.

I noticed then that all three of us had tears in our eyes. Stephenie Meyer had said that vampires couldn't cry but hey our venom kept our eyes moving around in our heads so it only makes sense that we could cry it right? "I'll come back and talk to you three later," James said disappearing.

I sat with my two best friends on the end of the purple bed. I explained my whole conversation with James and let Kat and Tiffany comment where they did. Our lives were over and we needed to get on with these new lives. "Well I suppose we have experienced the end of our world," I said suddenly utterly depressed.

"Did he tell you if we were even pronounced dead?" Tiffany asked suddenly.

"I can remember the puddles of blood the three of us were in and I can remember the hospital staff turning us away. It wouldn't surprise me," I replied.

"Nothing will ever be the same," Kat suddenly said.

"I'd still like to know if we were just pronounced dead or missing. If we were pronounced missing at least we can go back and continue where we left off," Tiffany said determined to stay positive.

"But we're vampires! As much as I'd love to go back to my life we're still the walking dead! We'll need blood to survive and I'd rather not be staring at my family's necks holding myself back from sucking them dry!" Kat was not herself. I figured it had something to do with the fact that she was right – nothing would be the same, ever again.

"We can control cravings. I mean we all used to get a little violent when we wanted chocolate. This shouldn't be any different. Right?" Tiffany was looking to me. If I backed her up maybe Kat would let it go and we could go back to normal. But I knew she wasn't right and when James walked in with copies of our death certificates I knew that it was over. Normal would never be attainable and Tiffany just wanted it to be back to exactly that, normal.

**A/N: Okay so a little morbid I know but it'll get better I promise. Please let me know if you like this one better than the last chapter of meeting James if you read the last version!**


	5. Book Three

**Book Three: Victoria**

**Monday – July 9, 2012**

After a little while the three of us decided that it was time to move on. It said that we'd died three days ago on our death certificates. It said that we'd died in the car crash and that we'd bled out and wild animals had eaten a lot of our remains so our bodies had been cremated before being sent to our families. Figured because of course our families would have known it wasn't us if they'd seen our faces.

James had left fearing the three unstable newborns would tear his head off at the presence of any new bad news. He was probably right. But Kat seemed ready to move on with her new life, ready to reinvent herself or so it seemed. Tiffany was still upset with the fact that she was officially dead – in writing and the fact that her body was technically dead. And then there was me. I felt as if my soul itself had died when I had.

"Okay so you guys are really bumming me out," Kat said and I could feel the energy pulsing through her.

"We're dead, Kat," Tiffany grumbled.

"But we're not. I mean sure we'll have to do things a little differently but we should have died in that car crash. We're still moving with conscious thoughts and I haven't actually had a craving for blood or a feeling of being thirsty yet. What about you guys?" Kat asked.

"I've been a bit pre-occupied by the fact that we were turned by James and that he wants to use us as pawns to get to Bella," I grumbled.

"So what? It's not like we know her. If he wants to play a little game maybe we can get a life out of it. I mean we have to at least want to try out this world of ours before we throw it away. It's not like it's easy for us to die anymore," Kat said.

"I hate it when she makes sense," I said to Tiffany.

"Me too," Tiffany replied.

It was then that a redheaded woman with our red eyes entered the room, "Victoria right?" I asked.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"Well considering James was the one who turned us and says that at least a couple of the Twilight characters are real I had to just assume by the red of your hair and your presence," I replied.

"Oh I assumed it was because of that whole mind-reading thing James mentioned you could do and didn't think it was true. Is it?" Victoria asked.

"Unfortunately," I replied.

"So I've got a question," Tiffany said, "If we're dead then how are we supposed to play this little game James wants us to play?"

"Easy. I'm like beyond good at getting people new identities. I'll go ahead and get started if you guys want to go hunting or whatever. You're probably dying of thirst right?" Victoria said.

The three of us looked at each other and all replied, "No."

"Well that's strange. But it'll take a couple days to get your eyes to something other than red and if you plan on living among humans you're going to need the golden topaz that the Cullen's sport," Victoria said.

We did as she said and headed out into the woods in search of animals that would provide a meal. Kat seemed so into it when she spotted a bear and took it out. Tiffany took a bit more time to catch a mountain lion. And then there was me. I was so distracted. There were sounds of hikers that I knew to stay away from and the sounds of small animals in the forest. It was then that I heard a wolf howl and felt a sort of emptiness inside me. I longed to be out with the howling wolf running on paws rather than feet. I wanted my skin not to smell so sweet and not to look so pale white. I wanted my eyes to be green again and not red or gold. I wanted to be back to normal or dead. And more than anything I wanted a steak with some garlic mashed potatoes. I couldn't eat anything that I'd seen its face before eating it, even now that the want for blood was bubbling under my skin.

"Would you hunt something already so we can get back? The hikers are making my thirst come back," Kat complained.

"You guys go ahead and head back. I'll meet up with you when I'm done," I forced a smile onto my face, "I just can't decide which animal sounds better."

"Sure, okay, whatever," Tiffany said and with that the two of them left me alone in the woods. The deadly predator that didn't want to hunt.

I decided to find the wolf that had been howling and managed to find it in a clearing that was filled with warm sunlight. There were flowers in this field in shades of white, blue, pink and yellow. But the feeling of the sun on my skin made me feel more human and made me feel better. The wolf in the clearing was pure black with blue eyes and it reminded me of a story where wolves changed into people in warm months. I wanted to be part of that story now instead of the one I was in, Twilight. But there was something about the wolf that startled me. I was obviously a predator or at least something in his territory and yet he didn't move. He just continued to stare at me. And what was worse was that he was looking me in the eye. Normally a dominance routine but he almost seemed to be connecting to my soul. He let out an eerie howl that sunk into my bones and I imagined running with him to the rest of his pack and letting my soul be free. And now I realized that I could feel my soul again where I couldn't earlier. "Thank you," I barely managed to breath.

When he disappeared into the woods I sank to my knees and let the sun soak into my skin, which was probably glittering like a diamond, but imagined I was on a beach in California in a bikini, getting a tan. I remembered how my grandfather's skin would tan to the point that he would look Native American and how I used to be able to do that as well when I was little. I imagined my skin doing that now and my eyes back to their luscious green. I held onto that image in my head so tightly that I didn't realize when I'd gotten up and walked to a river. That was until I heard snarling and opened my eyes.

The snarling was close now, and hot breath warmed my face. But it stopped when I opened my eyes. I looked into a pair of gray eyes adorning a large wolf body and saw my own green reflected. Wait green? I was as confused as the wolf in front of me seemed to be. _She smells like one of them but she looks human._ Suddenly I saw myself through this wolf's eyes. I'd taken on my tan skin and was not glittering in the sunlight. My eyes were definitely green, no trace of red in them whatsoever. And then there was more, my smell. It was still sickly sweet but it was less so than it had been earlier that day.

I saw the sun start to set and felt the fire of the change come over my body again. I was not human anymore but I didn't quite feel like a vampire anymore either. I could almost feel my skin rippling and turning into a pelt of wolf fur and it gave me hope. I dipped my head in thanks to the wolf in front of me and backed away before running to share my good news with the others. There was a way out!

**A/N: Sorry for the mini cliffhanger-ish ending but I had to end it before I introduced the next character. I'm trying very hard to have a "completed" kind of storyline to each chapter so it's not a huge cliff hanger. Let me know what you think. Katie (my OC version of myself) has some pretty awesome powers huh? Now I just gotta figure out what powers to give the other two.**


	6. Book Four

**Book Four: Laurent**

**Tuesday – July 10, 2012**

When I entered the cabin Kat and Tiffany were talking with Victoria on the living room couch, Victoria was the only one facing me. "Interesting news isn't it?" I asked when I saw the look on her face change to one of pure confusion.

Kat was the first to turn to me, "You're suddenly very happy. Why ar… How the hell are you tan?"

Tiffany spun around quickly then and stared at me in amazement, "And how the hell did you get rid of the blood red eyes so fast?"

"Well I was moping in the woods," I started, "and I heard a wolf howling and felt a tiny bit of my soul return to me. So I went looking for the wolf and low and behold I find myself being drawn to what must have been one of the Quileute wolves. I'd been daydreaming about how the sun used to tan my skin so that I practically looked Native American and how I missed the green in my eyes and when I saw the wolf he was confused because I looked human but I smelled like a vampire."

"And he didn't try and kill you?" it was Victoria this time.

"No, it was like he understood that I wished I were in his skin…you know a wolf… and he felt sorry for me. He let me go," I said.

"You're the strangest vampire yet," James had entered the room, "Try not to wander onto their land again, I'd rather avoid confrontation with them."

"No problem," I said although I was secretly planning a way to get onto the reservation and talk to one of the wolves in human form.

We moved onto planning our makeshift lives. Kat would assume the identity of Lara Panther, her own creation because she loved being a cat too much. Tiffany would become Valkyrie Adonna, something that sounded Viking to her I guess. And I would go from Katie to Rikki Winters.

All the while James was going over different details I was trying to figure out how I'd been able to change myself and was hoping that I could do it to Kat and Tiffany so that they could be presentable to society faster. Maybe I just had shape shifter blood in me and it was heightened because of being a vampire. But try as I did Kat and Tiffany didn't change in appearance.

When Laurent was introduced to us I had to stifle a laugh. He was definitely closer to the Jamaican version of him in Twilight the movie than in the book where he was just some other white guy. He'd done a little digging while we changed and had found out that none of us had really been all that great in school so he'd gotten us a crash course in high school. Over the course of the next couple of days we were supposed to learn a language or two, biology, chemistry and math. I'd been in college classes when we'd died so I didn't need to study quite as badly as the others as far as math went but I did read through all the books to make sure everything was stuck firmly in my head.

Kat and Tiffany learned Japanese and Chinese while I went on and learned Italian, French and Greek. I'd had a gift for languages but the languages I'd chosen were similar in structure and easy enough languages to learn as a second language. We'd been told there would be plenty more time to learn more but we had to have a base for classes.

Over the week we built up our fake high school transcripts. When we finished each math book it went down as a class. When we finished our first language – and been tested since Laurent had gone through plenty of countries in his 300 years – it went down as two years of language classes. Biology book down, another class added as was the same with chemistry. History books came next and I'd raced through those as fast as possible wanting history to be done with. I'd rather hear it from Laurent than read it in a book, I mean he'd been there for a good part of what we needed for the high school education anyway. Once that was done we had to fill in electives. These we were allowed to just pick because there weren't really books that we had to read through for them. But when we all mentioned that we liked writing and photography Laurent bought us all laptops and Nikon cameras.

When I was given free moments in the day I'd sneak out and find the pack of real wolves in the woods that I'd found earlier and I'd photograph them. The sun always shown brightly in this area and so I was glad to have such wonderful light for my photographs. But today I was out shooting pictures of them when Laurent was out ready to hunt.

"Rikki? What are you doing?" he'd already gotten used to using my new name and I'd almost gotten used to hearing it.

"Practicing my photography. I think I'll go out for the school newspaper or yearbook or something to seem more normal. But I love the light in here with the wolf pack," I hurried for an excuse.

"Does this have anything to do with what Victoria told me about you and the werewolf?" Laurent asked.

"Is it so bad I envy their freedom? I mean I haven't needed to feed and I'm never thirsty. I'm almost starting to get hungry for human food again so maybe I'm not as vampire as everyone thinks anyway," I said.

"You smell less and less like one of us. But don't think they'll let you near their people. I knew a vampire once who envied them and lost her head because of it. Be smart okay? James may have wanted you three for personal gain but I don't want to see lives unnecessarily lost," Laurent said.

"Don't worry. Coming that close to death is not in my plans any time soon," I replied and with that he was off to hunt.

I'd been coming out here every day for the last week and I'd learned the hierarchy of this particular pack. The black wolf I'd met in the clearing the week before was the lone wolf taken in by his brother the alpha who was a black-brown wolf that shared the same blue eyes. The alpha's mate was a sort of blue-gray she-wolf with a pair of green eyes that matched mine. They had pups that were full grown now and probably about ready to head out into the world to start their own packs; three pups: a blue-gray female like her mother but with her father's blue eyes, a brown wolf with eyes like his mother's green, and a speckled black and grey she-wolf with eyes like the lavender flowers that grew in their clearing. I'd named them all as if I were part of their pack although they'd never really acknowledged my presence. The alphas were Richard and Sue, the omega was Bryan – my wolf – and the pups were Clara, the fun loving alpha like her mother, Adam, the serious but wonderful hunter unlike his parents in his brown fur, and Lavender, the one who would probably stay with her parents and become another omega.

As I looked into the clearing today I didn't see Bryan. He was always around as he'd taken a fondness to the pups. I strained my vampire heightened senses looking for the wolf that I'd become so attuned to and couldn't find him. As I was lying on a mossy ledge to take my pictures over the hollow the wolves lived in I wasn't in the best vantage point to look for him so I decided to get up and search for my wolf. After all, without him I felt as though a part of my soul that had been awakened was still missing. It was then that I noticed the scent of fresh deer meat; looking down the pathway to my ledge I saw the source of the smell. Bryan was climbing my little hill, ever so carefully, to bring me a meal. It was then that I knew I was accepted as part of the pack.

I wasn't thirsty for blood but when Bryan sat beside me on my ledge with the leg of deer I had to admit my mouth watered with venom. It wasn't the blood I was craving but the meat sitting before me. I knew for sure now that I wasn't like any other vampire out there. I shared my meal with Bryan the wolf and we watched the clearing together. He never stirred when I took a picture although I was sure that the sound of my shutter should have alarmed him, but maybe my senses were just sharper than his.

When the sun started to set I had to say my farewells to Bryan and the pack. But before I could get up and walk away Bryan rested his muzzle in my lap. I patted his head as gently as I could manage as I still didn't know how my transformation had affected my strength and moved slowly to get up. It was then that I heard thoughts as clearly as if he'd spoken English to me. _You belong here, don't leave…_ I felt a tear roll down my cheek, I hadn't even known my eyes were watering, but I had to go back to the others. I realized now that I was the glue that held my friends together so I had to go back. That and in a sad kind of way I did kind of owe James for saving my friends and I from an actual death.

"I'll be back tomorrow," I spoke barely a whisper but I knew he'd heard me. I'd actually interact with the pack tomorrow if Richard would allow me. Bryan nodded his head to me and with that I was off for more studying.

When I arrived home Kat and Tiffany were deep into some summer reading list Forks High School had put out for its incoming seniors. I'd already finished it and honestly didn't know what I was going to be taught or what I would learn today as I sat down on a couch with my laptop.

"Why do you smell like a dog?" Valkyrie asked suddenly as I flipped through my pictures.

"I dunno. Why do you smell like a cupcake?" I countered.

"Hello, Earth to Rikki! We all smell like cupcakes and sugar and flowers! It's called being a vampire. _You_ on the other hand smell like a dog," she growled.

"Maybe it's something to do with the changes that I somehow underwent. I just don't like smelling like a freaking bakery or a cake shop so maybe my scent just changed too," I growled back.

"Would you too stop bickering? We have bigger problems than Rikki's stench," Lara said.

"Thank you Lara," I said, "Wait? You think it stinks? You used to live with a dog."

"Ya but I didn't have vamp senses. And you really out to think about at least smelling better than a dog if you hate smelling so sweet anyway," Lara said.

"I'll work on it okay," I grumbled.

"You could start by staying away from that wolf pack," James said entering the room.

"What wolf pack?" Lara asked.

"I've just been taking pictures of a wolf pack in the area. I wanted to get use out of my camera," I replied hastily.

"Wolves are dangerous," Valkyrie said.

"Oh please. These are actual wolves. Not the shape shifters that could rip my face off. Like I'd really be that stupid," I growled.

"Well at least one of them got her to feed for the first time today," James said.

"You've been spying on me?" I growled.

"I'm protecting my investments," James replied.

"Well if you must know I didn't feed on the blood I ATE the meat," I growled storming into my makeshift room. Even as a vampire a slammed door had effect. I could feel the vibrations through the cabin and knew I had to escape before someone came to try and talk sense into me. That was when Laurent glided in through my window as if he'd done it a million times before.

"I told you it was dangerous," he said calmly.

"Is it so bad that I wanted to feel alive? Because I did with them!" I growled more tears pulling at my eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to tell you what you did was wrong. I can see in your eyes that you're different, both literally and the fact that your eyes are soul deep," Laurent said, "James wants to play this game but I fear it'll be his last even if he thinks the three of you can prevent it. There are greater forces at work here than he thinks. I want you and your friends to take a quick trip with me."

"Trip where?" I asked.

"I want you to see Bella," Laurent said.

**A/N: So next chapter obviously is Bella! Originally the story was going to have the three main characters meet people like Angela and Mike in the next one but since it's still in July I figured that they wouldn't really be meeting anyone like that yet. So I'm thinking that I'll try and follow the Twilight storyline as close as I can with my own changes in it. Obviously it'll be slightly delayed since it's summer before senior year and James is just now finally deciding that he's gonna play his little game with Bella. But I'll try and keep the main theme in there and work in the characters who are now Rikki, Lara and Valkyrie (Katie, Kat and Tiffany) Enjoy! Please Review!**


	7. Book Five

**Book Five: Isabella Swan and Alice Cullen**

**Friday – July 20, 2012**

The night had finally come that Laurent decided we needed to see Bella. Valkyrie and Lara's eyes had finally become golden but they still didn't share the qualities that I had. I wanted more than anything for them to be more human than they were and more like I was but it didn't seem likely anymore.

While we sat below Bella's window I feared that Edward might scent us if he came around and Laurent said that he of course would, if not for the fact that my spending so much time with my wolf pack masked our scents wonderfully. "I want the three of you to spend the night here since the Cullens are out hunting. Learn what you can from her and try to find yourselves away from James," Laurent said and with that he disappeared into the night. He'd also decided to try the 'vegetarian' lifestyle which made me like him more than James and Victoria but they were all still vampires and something within me stirred with painful memories and instincts.

"How are we supposed to learn anything about her? We're down on the ground in the woods," Lara said.

"We can still hear and smell if you can't see anything," I replied.

"I don't see why everyone is so taken in by her scent. I mean human blood has its appeal because it's the way our bodies are wired but she's nothing special unless you want to eat flowers," Valkyrie said.

"Laurent is going to kill me for this but can you guys keep a watch for me please?" I asked.

"Why what are you doing?" Lara asked glaring at me.

"I want to talk to her and I'm the only one that looks human. Just give me some sort of signal if a Cullen looks like they're coming around," I said walking toward the front door.

I knocked once before a small figure answered the door. Her golden eyes and choppy black hair made me think of Alice Cullen. I was screwed, "Hey, I'm Rikki… Is Bella here?" I asked.

"Who is it?" Charlie's voice drifted in from the living room.

"Oh just a friend of Bella's from Arizona. She just stopped by to say hi, apparently she's moving to Forks," Alice said in a sing-songy voice.

"I don't know how many more teenage girls I can take in my house," Charlie complained.

"I'm technically an adult Chief Swan. Turned 18 just a few weeks ago. I'm Rikki," I introduced myself as Charlie stood to shake my hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you Rikki. We just finished dinner but there's a burger in the kitchen if you want it," he said.

My mouth watered at the idea of meat, "Thanks but I actually just ate like a whole pizza on the drive from the airport." I really wanted the burger but I still didn't know how my body would handle cooked meat. I mean I'd only tried the raw deer leg a few days ago and it hadn't quite processed yet.

"Well we'll just be in Bella's room catching up on that summer reading list," Alice said dragging me up the stairs. When we got just outside Bella's bedroom door Alice turned a very stern glare on me and said in a voice low enough that only I could hear, "You hurt her and I'll have your head before you can twitch."

"Look," I copied her tone, "I'm here to get to know her. You can see that I don't want to hurt her and I mean I don't even look or smell like one of you, so please give me a little more credit."

"Ya but you do kind of smell like one of the wolves," she wrinkled her nose at me.

"Ya well I don't particularly care for the constant smell of sugar and spice," I let out a long sigh – I'd gotten used to breathing again and it felt more natural, "Look, I'd really like to get along. I don't understand what all happened to me and I wanted to have Bella introduce me to your family anyway. You must have seen that when I came to the door."

"How do you know so much about me?" Alice asked.

"The Twilight books. I've met a few other people that were characters so I figured others were real, plus I can kind of read minds too, kind of like Edward although I think mine is a little weaker and triggered only by certain emotions," I said quickly.

It was then that Bella decided to open the door, "Alice what's taking…so…long…? Who's this?" she asked.

"Bella, meet Rikki… for your father's sake we said she was a friend of yours from Arizona," Alice said.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," I said.

"Oh its fine…I'm starting to get used to weird in my life. Well come in so my dad doesn't hear us talking," Bella said inviting me into her room.

"So… you've read the Twilight books right?" I asked.

"Oh dear god… unfortunately I have," Bella said, "Why do you ask?"

"Are you still friends with Jacob?" I asked.

"Ya, why?" Bella asked.

"Is he different than when you first met him?" I asked.

"Oh you mean 'has he changed into a wolf yet?' Yes he has. Little earlier than the plot of the books…And for Edward's sake I hope he doesn't go running off after my eighteenth birthday this year," Bella grumbled.

"Oh, gosh…this is gonna sound really strange but are you planning on seeing Jacob any time in the near future? Like I don't know….tomorrow?" I asked.

"I hope you realize that what you're asking is not a good idea," Alice said.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

"She wants to go and see the wolves while they're human," Alice said.

"I ran into one of them in the woods the other day and he spared my life even though I was on their land…I want to thank them…" I said.

"Wait, you're a vampire?" Bella asked.

"Ya, why? Couldn't you tell?" I asked.

"You don't smell like them, I mean I know my sense of smell is less than theirs but you don't smell all sweet and fruity. You smell more like the woods," she said, "And you're like, um…well, tan. And if you're really a vampire how are your eyes green?"

"Lots of questions this one. Did she give you guys the third degree when she met you?" I asked Alice.

"Not all of us, just Edward. But I have to admit I'm curious too," Alice said.

"I think it's part of whatever strange set of abilities that I got. I was just out in the woods the day I turned and I was imagining the sun browning my skin like it used to and how I missed the green of my eyes and poof. I open my eyes and there in front of me is one of the wolves and I see through his eyes – by the way I can also hear thoughts given the right emotions are attached – and I see myself looking practically Native American tan and my green eyes are back. I think he was going to kill me until he saw my eyes, then it confused him," I shrugged like I'd told the story as if it were as simple as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"When were you turned?" Bella asked.

"Almost two weeks ago," I said, "I was driving with some friends to the reservation…it used to be our favorite place to just sit and unwind…I hit an elk on a road and then hit a tree…the three of us were dying on the side of the road when someone tried to take us to the hospital, our heartbeats had already become so slow, we'd lost so much blood, that they wouldn't take in three dying girls." I could feel my tears welling up again remembering what felt like my death.

"So you weren't given a choice either," Bella said.

"No, and at first I hated everyone for it. I'd felt like I'd lost my soul into a void, like I'd never be whole again and then I started changing into something between human and vampire and I found a wolf pack in the woods next to the area I've been living and I found myself again. That's why I wanted to talk to the wolf pack…part of me is still missing and I think they might hold my answers for me," I said.

"Bella, don't," Alice growled.

"Don't try and stop me Alice. She asked me a favor and I think that she can keep me safe," Bella said, "After all she is a newborn technically."

"I'm worried for her sake," Alice growled, "As she said she only narrowly avoided being torn apart by one of them last time. What happens this time? They're not going to keep her alive just because you ask them to. Do you really want her to die when she's finally accepted her second chance at life?"

"They don't have to keep her alive because I ask. They just have to hear her out," Bella said, "Besides, your treaty with them only keeps your family safe off their land, technically there's nothing keeping her alive if something happens."

"What would Edward think?" Alice asked.

"He's not here to stop me and even if you guys did something to the engine of my car, she's still part vampire. She could carry me to the border and then we could walk into the reservation," Bella said.

"What is Charlie going to think?" Alice asked.

"He's going to find out sooner or later that there's not an extra car parked out in front of his house anyway," I said.

"You didn't even drive a car over here?" Alice growled.

"Didn't have access to one. I'm living remotely in the woods in a log cabin, cars aren't exactly necessary for us anyway," I shot back.

"Besides Forks is a small enough place that she could easily have walked over here," Bella said.

"This late at night?" Alice asked.

"Rikki, we can leave now if you'd like," Bella said ignoring Alice.

I was starting to like Bella, "Sure, and don't worry about your truck. I've got friends keeping an eye on the house anyway. We didn't want anything ugly going down with Charlie here anyway."

"Are you sure you're a vampire?" Bella laughed.

Alice excused herself telling Charlie there was something that happened at home and she'd needed to go and then Bella and I had left saying that I had walked over and that Bella would be driving me home and probably stay over for a bit so that she could catch up with me better.

We'd driven right past the treaty line and I realized that Valkyrie and Lara hadn't followed. When we'd left I'd smelled Laurent and figured he'd pulled them out before they decided to intervene with my plan. When we pulled up in front of a house that Bella told me was Sam's I felt fear run down my spine. I was on, technically enemy territory… They'd made jokes in the movies and books about Bella being the vampire girl, but here I was technically a blood sucker and I was in wolf territory. I swallowed hard and Bella noticed, "They're better tempered than you think."

"And they're more of a threat to me than to you. My fur will lie flat when theirs does," I joked though my voice cracked with worry.

"Come on, I'm sure Emily has something cooking. You look hungry," Bella said and then she winced, "Or do you still have to drink blood?"

"I don't have to drink blood. I haven't drunk or eaten anything since I turned besides a raw deer leg…and I'm not so sure that's settling in my body all that well either," I said feeling a bit of nausea prick my gut as I spoke about it.

Reluctantly I followed Bella into the house. It didn't smell like anyone was around to me, not to mention all the lights were off. "Hello? Emily?" Bella called into the empty house.

"No one has been here for hours," I shuddered at the cold of the house. It felt like they'd deserted it for some reason.

"How can you tell?" Bella asked.

"All the smells are old. It was like they packed up and left early this afternoon. The light bulbs aren't even slightly warm," I said.

"But there's always someone at Sam's…" Bella said and then I knew she heard the growling too. There was a wolf here and he wasn't happy to have an enemy on his land. Bella turned around as I did and I saw that she recognized the wolf, "Sam! It's me, Bella! I came to talk. Can we talk?" she slowly stepped in front of me and it felt odd that this fragile human would have any power to protect me.

Another growl rippled through the black wolf in front of us, "Maybe Alice was right, maybe this was a bad idea…" I said.

"No. Sam needs to hear you out. We came this far and I'm not letting you down," Bella said.

"Why do you trust me?" I suddenly asked and this made both Bella and the wolf Sam grow deathly quiet.

Bella turned around toward me and looked me straight in the eye, "Because you wanted out of being a vampire and you came to me, a human for help."

"But you don't even know who turned me! You don't know who wants you dead…who wants Edward dead….who probably wants all these wolves dead too…" I could feel more tears pricking at my eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked.

"James," I said and the name hung in the air between us. I saw so many expressions cross her face as she processed what I'd just told her. Then finally she settled on one expression and it looked betrayed beyond anything I'd ever seen. I hadn't realized how much she'd trusted me until I saw this look on her face. Tears pricked my eyes when I saw a few run down her cheeks.

"Why?" was the only word she finally spoke.

"He wanted help to play his little game but when I saw the wolves in the woods and ran into one of the pack members I couldn't go through with even thinking about it. My friends think that they are obligated because of the whole siring thing that they think happens with all vampires…I'm so sorry…" I sank to my knees.

"So you can't go back now can you? You didn't come here because you wanted to meet the pack, you came here because you didn't want a painful death…you wanted to warn me," Bella said.

"No…well yes, I wanted to warn you…but I saw a way out if I could get the pack to take me in and if not then at least I wouldn't have to live a life of deception anymore," I said tears still falling from my eyes and then I realized that they were salty, they didn't taste like my venom.

"We'll hear you out at the very least," a male voice sounded somewhere above my head, "In the morning." It was then that I felt a needle in the back of my neck and everything went black.

**A/N: Okay so I know the story has been pretty depressing as of recently. Going to switch things up for a bit for the next couple of chapters so you can see more of Tiffany/Valkyrie and Kat/Lara and less of Katie/Rikki. Out to be fun right? Hope nobody is too ancious to get back to her either because it'll probably be at least two or three chapters before we see her again.**


	8. Book Six

**Book Six: Lara and Dante**

**Friday – July 20, 2012**

When Rikki entered the house I felt my stomach drop. There was something off, a smell of another vampire in the area. But it wasn't outside with us, no that would have been easy to deal with. Valkyrie and I were newborns; we could take on a vampire easily if it became a problem. But no, it couldn't be that easy because we were now on enemy territory. Cullen territory.

"Call Laurent. We need to get out of here and he needs to know why," Valkyrie said climbing a nearby tree in a heartbeat to get a view into Bella's room, "She's in and we need to get out of here."

I had dialed Laurent by the time she was back by my side, "Rikki's in but Alice is here. We need to get out of here."

"Okay you guys head out. It's not safe for you at this point in time. I'll go check on her really quick and meet you back at the cabin," Laurent said.

We disappeared into the night and were back at the cabin with Victoria and James in mere minutes. I loved how fast I could run as a vampire. I'd never felt more alive. As a human I'd been a shy bookworm but now that I had the freedom to take what I needed and could never go back to my old life I felt like I'd been reborn. I felt like the popular bitch for once, like the world was mine.

"You're back earlier than I expected from your fieldtrip," James said as I slouched on the couch in front of a large television screen in the living room.

"Rikki got into Bella's house and Alice was there. Too dangerous for us to stick around before suspicion rises," I said.

Valkyrie laughed to herself and tossed me a blood lollipop. Our most recent invention since we were still technically teenage girls. "I don't see why she smells so good to you guys. I mean it's like you'd be sucking on a flower," she said sucking on her own pop.

"Some of us find the smell appealing after a few hundred years. You guys still have fresh human memories, give it a few decades and you'll go after the humans that smell like honey and flowers similar to Bella," Victoria said.

"Ya and we'll kick the habit of these little frozen blood lollipops too," I laughed.

Laurent entered the house then and wore a worried expression, "Bella's taking her to the wolves."

My ears seemed to ring. I could picture her death clearly, like on the side of the road where we should all have died. She'd be torn to pieces and because of her recent changes she'd lay in a puddle of her own blood too. She was strong and had vampire abilities yes, but other than that her body was very human. I felt some of my old self returning as I imagined one of my best friend's body lying torn apart and dead in the road. It was then that I actually shook myself to clear my head. Suddenly the taste of the lollipop in my mouth was very unappetizing, like it was my friend's blood in my mouth.

"Lara, are you okay?" Valkyrie asked.

"Not really," I said, "Why?"

"You had brown eyes before right?" she asked.

"Ya, again why?" I replied.

"They're pretty brown right now," Valkyrie said handing me a mirror.

I glanced at it faster than briefly and then had to go back and stare. "You think maybe all vampires can do this and Rikki and I just ran across it by accident?" I asked.

"No. Rikki practically turned herself back into a human. As far as I can tell you only have your eye color back," Valkyrie said.

"Well then how did I manage it?" I choked out.

"Looks like you may have an ability as well," James said, "Try changing something else about yourself, or someone else."

I thought about what color Valkyrie's eyes used to be and remembered a stormy blue gray and looked at her willing with my mind that they would be that again instead of the ghost-like gold they were. It took a lot of concentration but eventually her eyes did change color and when I was satisfied with the color they'd turned they stayed that way.

"Try something else," James prompted.

I couldn't think of anyone or anything else I wanted to change. I closed my eyes and thought hard about my cat back home with her calico fur, of all the things in this new life she was what I missed. I missed her purring in my ear, I missed the glare she would give people when she wanted her space. I missed her light meow when I wasn't paying enough attention to her and then it was almost as if I could hear it. No wait, I could hear her meow, and I could feel paws on my lap and my chest. Snapping my eyes open there sat my cat, Callie, staring up at me waiting to be pet.

James laughed his usual laugh that would normally have made my skin crawl but this time it didn't, "Well not only can she change the colors of peoples' eyes but she can make cats magically appear from thin air."

"Great, so now I'm the only one that's not special," Valkyrie growled.

"Maybe my ability wills things to become real when I want them to," I said, "What kind of an ability do you want?"

"I don't want someone to give me one. I want to have one because that's who I am," Valkyrie growled.

"Okay fine, whatever," I grumbled back. My newly created version of Callie jumped off my lap and wandered around the cabin. I thought of a guy that had haunted my dreams for oh so long, willing him to be real as he was the only guy I ever felt like I could be myself around. I opened my eyes, though I didn't remember closing them and sighed when there wasn't anything different in the room.

I wandered back to my room in the cabin. The massive amounts of purple weren't exactly my favorite but it was better than the stark white of Rikki's room and the death of black of Valkyrie's room. I sunk into the plus purple of the bed that I now never slept in and closed my eyes again. I could make out the frame of his figure and his black punkie hair, the blue of his eyes, but it was all just out of my reach. If I was able to make a cat appear out of nothing but the dust in the air then why couldn't I create my imaginary boyfriend?

I let my mind wander back to when I could almost feel him in the air around me. How I'd felt as if I'd slept in his arms when I felt too cold, the feeling of his fingers brushing lightly over my cheek whenever I would cry, the silken safe feeling his spoken words would have over me especially when he would call out my name. I now knew why Rikki hadn't wanted to be a vampire if she could avoid it. She'd missed these simple things from our human lives. Sure mine wasn't real but it felt so me. I clutched a pillow to my chest suddenly feeling hollow, "Dante, I miss you," I felt tears leak out of my eyes.

"Well I sure as hell missed you too," his voice pulled me back into the world where I was a teenage girl as fragile as ever, sitting in my room reading a Twilight book. I felt at home.

I sat up and looked to my right where his voice had come from. Sure enough there was Dante, standing in all his glory looking at me with his fond blue eyes. His black punkie hair was combed back as if to be presentable at a formal event and his average muscular body was dressed in his usual black suit pants, black dress shoes, white dress shirt and informal black waiter's vest. "Say something else so that I know I didn't magically fall asleep and dream this," I said feeling more tears leak from my eyes.

He moved ever so slowly, as if human to my vampire eyes, to sit beside me on the purple duvet cover and it was then that I felt his _real_ fingers brush my venom filled tears off my cheeks. "Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to actually be able to touch you?" his voice was softer than silk on my ears. I was loving every second that he was this close and this real. It was intoxicating. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?" he asked me then his face so close to mine that I could see little gray flecks in his blue eyes, a detail I hadn't noticed before in my dreams.

"What?" his breath on my face and his touch were stealing every thought from my head and his lips were mere inches from mine.

"I love you, oh so much," Dante said cupping my chin in his hand and brining me those last couple of inches so that our lips touched. It wasn't a kiss but the sensation of it was beyond wonderful. He pulled back ever so slightly so that our lips were just barely skimming each other and he said, "Do you want me to kiss you?"

When he spoke his lips brushed mine in ways that made me yearn for more of his touch. I had no idea how to kiss, I mean I'd seen it in movies and read it in books but I'd never myself done it. But I wanted him so badly; I mean I'd brought him to life hadn't I? If my gift was only temporary I was going to experience kissing the guy of my dreams before he disappeared so I did something very unlike myself. I closed my eyes ever so lightly and leaned into him linking our lips in a way I could only hope was what a kiss was supposed to be. We were both vampires so I thought that our granite skin would be hard against one another but the kiss we shared was as soft as a couple of feathers brushing against each other as they floated through the air and yet there was so much passion behind it that I felt as if the mere energy in my body was being drawn out. I felt my arms move involuntarily to wrap my arms around his neck and in return felt one of his hands brush over my side and around to my back, the hand that had been on my chin now worked its way up my jaw and into my hair pulling me deeper into the kiss. I felt like I was on fire like the change but in a way I never wanted to end. And of course it was then that he decided to pull away. "No," I complained quietly.

"I'm not going anywhere. There will be plenty of time for us to continue that later," god his voice was so sexy. I opened my eyes then to look at him he'd leaned over and had placed his hand over a shadow on the floor. Oh that was right, he'd been a vampire with shadow manipulation gifts. I watched as he slowly brought a shadowy rose out of the shadow that then turned to what looked to be glass before he handed it to me, "Not that it could ever compare to your beauty," he said as I took it delicately.

"It's gorgeous," I said, "thank you."

"Anything for you," Dante said kissing me swiftly on my cheek.

I realized now that the sun was starting to come up. What a glorious start to a wonderful new day. I just hoped that wherever Rikki was she was having some luck finding her wolfish dreams.

**A/N: So there's book six. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Next up will be a book focused on Valkyrie. Don't worry she has a special ability too. And then I haven't decided if I'm going to do another chapter without Rikki or not yet. Who loves Lara and Dante? Who does Valkyrie get? You'll have to keep reading to find out! :)**


	9. Book Seven

**Book Seven: Valkyrie**

**Saturday – July 21, 2012**

"I don't want someone to give me one. I want to have one because that's who I am," I growled.

"Okay fine, whatever," Lara growled back. After a little while she wandered off to her room and I couldn't stand to be anywhere near James, Victoria or Laurent for another second so I wandered off into the woods.

I wanted to know why it seemed that I was the only one without any powers and why I was going to be forced to wander this new life alone. I suddenly hated Bella and wished I'd stuck around just to snap her fragile human neck so that I couldn't be jealous any longer. No, it wasn't that I was jealous it was that I was angry. Angry that I'd been given this life when all I wanted was to have an actual life where I had a husband and a family. God I sounded like Rosalie. Maybe…maybe with Lara's new powers, if she really could will things to be true I could have children. I laughed to myself. Ya because I had male suitors lined up down the block waiting to marry me. Who was I kidding?

I looked up into the sky noticing storm clouds. The weather report had said sunny, a great day to go down to the lake. No such luck, but I guess that was Washington for you. "Why does it always rain on me?" I asked the sky and it answered with a single raindrop.

I hunted though I didn't need to and started to feel better. It was then that I came upon a couple of hikers. A man and a woman, the woman was obviously pregnant, and she smelled better than the animals in the forest. I was losing my humanity and part of me was okay with that.

A crash of lightning and thunder startled me as I looked onto my prey. The man was saying something to the woman, something about getting back to safety. I crouched low as if to pounce on my prey and then the image became clearer in my eyes. They'd gone hunting and the smell that was sending my senses over the edge was her water breaking. She didn't look pregnant enough to deliver and they were miles from a hospital; miles away from their car. Suddenly it was all I could do not to help this couple. I didn't want them to lose their child and I didn't want it to kill this mother either. There was no point in it.

Something carried my feet down toward them, I knew how to deliver a baby and I could say I lived close by and get towels quickly if necessary. I was sure I'd walked at human speeds to this point anyway so it wasn't like I couldn't take them back to the cabin with running water and a soft bed right?

"Can you help us?" the man's voice broke my thoughts. I was standing not more than a few feet from them.

"Ya, I live only a little ways from here. It'll be better than trying to walk all the way back to your car," I said and the words felt foreign in my mouth.

"Thank you so much," the woman said.

With that I helped the man carry his wife back to the house. I pretended that I needed to unlock the door from the front when we got there so I could get the others out and to my surprise they were gone, well all but Lara and someone that smelled unfamiliar in her room. I decided they wouldn't be much of a bother so I helped the couple into Rikki's room knowing she wouldn't mind and it wasn't like we couldn't wash her sheets if she ever came back.

"The nearest road that runs by here isn't too close but I'll call an ambulance and see if they can't get here by the time the baby is born. I'm sure we can help them out with a path or something in the meantime," I said bringing in a set of towels.

"Thank you," the woman said again.

"Well I've helped deliver kittens so many times that this shouldn't be much harder, right?" I asked.

"It's our first child," the man said, "is it normal for her to have contractions this early do you know?"

"She's not just having contractions sir. Her water's broke," I explained.

It was then that Lara came to the door, "Oh god, what happened?" she asked.

"Look, no time to explain. Can you go clear the old path off from the main road and put up some sort of sign so the ambulance can find us? I've already called them and they said they were on their way but they don't have an off road vehicle," I said.

"Ya no problem," Lara said rushing out of the room.

"Okay I need you to keep breathing," I said to the woman as I'd heard from movies so many times, "Keep calm, talk to me like I'm an old friend. What're your names by the way?"

"I'm Erik and that's Lucy," the man said.

"Those are nice names," I said.

"What's your name?" Lucy asked.

I thought a moment about giving her my new name and then simply said, "Tiffany."

"That's a gorgeous name," Lucy said.

"I go by my middle name though, Valkyrie," I added quickly so that it wouldn't arouse any suspicion.

"That's an odd name, why did your parents choose it?" Erik asked.

"I'm not sure. But I like how it's unique and that I haven't met anyone with the same name," I said, "Okay when I tell you I want you to push."

"Already?" Lucy gasped.

"You're fully dilated…PUSH!" I ordered.

Lucy gave a massive heave and I could see the baby's head and it suddenly dawned on me that we would need something sterilized to cut the umbilical cord.

"Okay, Erik, there's some boiling water on the stove. I need you to go into the kitchen and find a pair of scissors in the top drawer on the left side of the stove and sterilize them," I said and then turned my attention back to Lucy, "Push!" I ordered again and then turned back to Erik, "Now!"

Erik disappeared and by the time he'd come back the baby's head was fully out. "You're doing wonderful babe," he said to her and it felt like the most wonderful comment in the world.

"Okay, one last time Lucy…Push!" and with that final heave the rest of the baby had emerged. It was a girl.

After the umbilical cord had been cut and the baby cleaned up as best as I could in the kitchen sink I handed Lucy her daughter wrapped in the softest towel I could find in my three second vampire speed. "She's so beautiful," Lucy said running a hand over the soft head of her daughter.

"And she seems pretty healthy for an early birth," I said. It was then that we heard the sirens outside and Lara led in a couple guys with a gurney. I helped them as best as I could and helped load them into the ambulance. "What will you name her?" I asked.

"If you don't mind I'd like to name her Tiffany," Lucy said.

"I don't mind at all," I said.

"Oh but I like Valkyrie," Erik said, "If you don't mind."

"How about you name her Valkyrie Tiffany? It'll make her name mean angel and like holy something," I suggested.

"I like that very much. Thank you for everything Valkyrie!" Lucy called as the doors to the ambulance were shut and they were whisked off to the not so wonderful world of hospitals.

"Makes you miss your old life doesn't it?" Lara said beside me.

"I've always missed it. But this," I paused thinking of the right wording, "this makes it bearable."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lara said.

"So who's the newcomer? I didn't recognize his scent," I said.

"Dante stopped by for a visit," she said as if she'd just said that James was back from feeding.

"So you _can_ will things to be true?" I asked shocked as the perfect image of Dante stepped around the corner.

"Apparently so," she said.

"Now I feel really not special," I said and felt heavy dark clouds pull in over my head again.

"Maybe more special than you think. Those clouds came out of literally nowhere," Lara said.

"Oh great…so I can make it rain and you can make people exist," I grumbled.

"Try making it sunny, maybe it works both ways," she suggested.

I thought about warm sun rays and how they used to feel in Arizona. I suddenly missed the heat. And there the clouds went with bright, overly warm for Washington, sunrays that came down on the cabin. "Okay, so that is pretty cool…but still not quite as cool as making things manifest before your very eyes."

"Okay, ya that is pretty cool… but maybe you'll have other things hidden in there. Who knows? Maybe you can make waves for surfing if the wolves ever let us on their land," she suggested.

"Oh god…"I paused remembering the news Laurent had brought us. Bella was taking Rikki to the wolves and she was sure to come back in pieces if we didn't do something about it and fast, "we have to go see if we can get Rikki out of there!"

**A/N: Okay so ONE more chapter without much of Rikki, well you'll see her at the end. But what do you guys think? I'm not writing for the reviews right now I'm just writing because I've had writers block for so long but the only reason I post the things I write up is because I want to know your opinions! and ya I know I've got typos but I haven't been editing them. I'll go back and edit them when I've finished the story or if I get some writers block and make them all pretty later. But for now Enjoy! Will update more tomorrow I promise!**


	10. Book Eight

**Book Eight: Valkyrie and Paul**

**Saturday – July 21, 2012**

"Oh god…"I paused remembering the news Laurent had brought us. Bella was taking Rikki to the wolves and she was sure to come back in pieces if we didn't do something about it and fast, "we have to go see if we can get Rikki out of there!"

"We can't just run onto wolf territory. We'd be ripped to pieces before we got to ask about her," Lara said grabbing my arm as I headed for the front door again.

"Well from the sound of what Laurent said she made it past the border without any problems, it's just what's waiting for her that's the problem," I pleaded.

"Look, I'm all for getting her out of there but we have to think it through before we go charging in. We may be newborns but they're still stronger and bigger than we are," Lara said, "Besides, she had Bella with her, it's not like they're going to attack a car with a human in it. Even as impulsive as they are they wouldn't harm Bella."

"Ya but still she could be in the process of being fed to those wolves as we speak!" I argued.

"Well who knows, maybe she's all right for now. I mean she looks human and you have to admit you could smell the blood running through her body earlier tonight. She doesn't sparkle in the sunlight like we do so that'll give her an edge. Come one, maybe she wanted this and Bella was just helping her out," Lara was trying to be reasonable.

I felt the storm clouds outside coming back, "Well can you make us not sparkle or something so we can at least go and check? I mean she tried to give us our human bodies back like she got hers. We have to at least make sure this is what she wants. She's not allowed to be the only suicidal vampire."

"I can try, but I've come to realize that my ability doesn't allow _everything_ I want to be true," Lara said.

I watched as she closed her eyes and stood very still. I tried to will the sun back out so we could see if it worked but all I felt was my urgency which only brought the storm clouds back to ordinary fluffy white clouds, still not good for letting the sun peak in.

When she let out an exhausted sigh I knew something was wrong, "I don't think it worked," she said.

"How will we know if it did? I can't get the sun to come out," I said.

"Well I guess logic aside we have to at least go and talk to someone," she said, "Let's go to the border line and see if we can talk to someone there.

I nodded and we left. I had no idea where the border was but I figured since they were wolves we'd be able to smell a change. When we got to the main road that led into the reservation I laughed to myself when I saw their commercialized "Treaty Line" sign. It was then that I realized I'd crossed the actual treaty line quite a few feet back.

"Val, get back here!" Lara cried a few feet back but when I turned around to return to the correct side of the treaty line I noticed a patch of sunlight, light a spotlight, right on me and a wolf standing between the two of us. I was most certainly wolf bait.

"We just want to talk…" I managed to squeak out while I tried to retreat back over the border. The dark gray wolf standing before me was massive and with every movement I made another growl rippled through his body. "Can we please just talk?" I asked, "I don't speak angry wolf."

At my last comment there was a sort of amused snort from the gray wolf and I noticed that another couple of wolves had joined with oddly confused looks on their faces. By this time I was finally back across the border with Lara. "Come one. If one of you would shift into a human so we could talk that would be great. Doesn't have to be all of you! We're just looking for our friend…" Lara said.

With this new information presented a look of recognition crossed their faces and one of the wolves disappeared and came back as a human. "Your friend come here with Bella last night?" his voice was warm with an edge to it. I realized that the same brown eyes that had adorned the face of that dark gray wolf who had stared me down.

"Yes she did, you haven't hurt her have you?" I asked.

"She's fine for now," the human wolf growled, "But she's on our land of her own free will which means we have the right to do whatever we want with her."

"You lay one finger on her head and I'll rip your hand off," Lara growled.

"Oh please, I'd never lay a finger on her. If I did anything it would be with tooth and claws," he growled back.

I felt thunder and lightning flash somewhere behind my head, "I want to speak with your alpha," I spoke evenly but with some sort of emotion that it almost invoked fear within _me_.

"You blood suckers aren't getting over the border again!" he growled.

"Paul, let them through," it was Bella that walked up the edge of the road toward us, "Sam is expecting them."

"Paul? Really? I expected more of a fight from you," I laughed walking past him to Bella.

I heard another growl ripple through Paul and looked back to find him standing as a wolf again. "Sorry about that, he's definitely got some issues that he needs to deal with," Bella said and I noticed one of the other wolves gave her a look that clearly said 'you have no idea.'

"It's not too far of a walk from here is it?" Lara asked coming to stand beside me.

"Why? Your vampire legs ready to rest?" Bella laughed.

"I was actually worried about your human legs," Lara snorted back.

"I walked here didn't I?" Bella growled back.

"Let's not get into a fight ladies, we all know who would win and then the wolves would have to intervene. I don't have a death wish so let's just keep it PG shall we?" I asked.

"So you all know who I am. Who are you guys?" Bella asked.

"I'm Valkyrie. The PMSing vamp over there is Lara," I replied.

"And I'm Dante," Dante's voice behind me actually made me jump. I hadn't known he'd followed us from the cabin and his appearance out of nowhere made me wonder how I'd missed his presence.

"Nice to meet you all, but Rikki only mentioned two of you…" Bella said.

"Oh, that's part of my ability…she doesn't know about him yet," Lara said and I swear I almost saw color enter her cheeks.

"Well, I guess she'll be in for a handful of surprises when she wakes up," Bella said.

"Wakes up?" Lara and I asked at the same instant.

"Ya she's been out all night. Sam was worried about her…well her feeding habits but she seemed mostly harmless so he gave her a mild sedative. Didn't think it'd work so well as to keep her out this long though," Bella said.

"How in the world did he get her to swallow that?" I asked.

"Oh he didn't. Swift needle to the neck, she's the strangest vampire I've ever come across," Bella said.

"He got a needle through her skin?" Lara asked bewildered.

"Is that not something that has happened before?" Bella asked.

"Let me tell you what we've known to be true about Rikki so far," I said, "She's got blood running through her body but her skin was still hard as granite, she still has venom, yet somehow she doesn't sparkle in the sunlight like the rest of us, and she has never needed to feed or sleep. She's more like a human zombie than a vampire."

"That's interesting. Sam said that, as far as he could tell, she didn't have any venom…" Bella paused giving us each long stares, "So tell me honestly, are you guys working with James?"

I looked at Lara and found the same expression on her face that must have been on mine, "He's the one that turned us…but…I don't know. I didn't think it would matter one way or the other if he got to play his game or not…" Lara said.

"But you helped out a friend of ours that's practically a suicidal vampire so I guess we owe you," I finished.

"That's not going to stop him is it?" Bella asked.

"If I know James, and unfortunately I've gotten to know him pretty well, I'd say it wouldn't even make him pause. He wants you and if Edward has the same reaction to him as in the books it'll only set him more passionately on the hunt," Lara replied.

"I'd be willing to bet he'd cross the border into wolf territory to get you. It'd make his game more fun if he could say he survived the wolves," I added.

"So Rikki's plan to keep me safe by bringing me to the pack probably won't work in the long run anyway?" Bella asked.

"I wouldn't bet on it," I said sadly.

"You can go back Paul, they're not going to hurt me," Bella shot over her shoulder and I realized that the wolf was still following us where as the others had dispersed.

He snorted but continued to follow us, or was he following me? The group was all fairly close to one side of the road and I was walking down the middle which was closer to where Paul was following. Maybe it was just that I'd carelessly crossed the border without checking scents first and he didn't trust me for that. But something in me said that it was much more than that.

**A/N: What's up with Paul? No he didn't imprint, but there's something seriously wrong with the way he's feeling for Valkyrie. Read on to see what happens next!**


	11. Book Nine

**Book Nine: Rikki and the Wolf Pack**

**Saturday – July 21, 2012**

I heard people speaking around me before I was fully awake, "Ya her friends came to check on her," the voice from last night was saying.

"But she doesn't look, smell or act like one of them. I mean for god's sake you got a needle through her _skin_!" another voice was saying.

"Jake, calm down. I'm not going to do anything to her. I just wanted daylight on our side when we talk to her," the first spoke again.

"I am calm. It just looks to me like you're holding an innocent girl hostage," Jake said and I had to think it must be Jacob Black.

"I'm not holding her hostage," the first one was talking and I fought to place a name to his voice.

"Come on Sam. She smells like one of us for crying out loud!" Jake said again but in a more hushed tone.

So it was Sam, "Look I didn't think that the needle would get through her skin let alone keep her out for this long okay! I gave her a dose that should have only lasted an hour!"

"Next time can I not get knocked out?" I asked groggily, "I mean I totally understand why you did it but you could have used something a little less animal tranquilizer and a little more I don't know like rope or chains! My head is killing me."

"Well at least she's still alive," Jacob said and I heard his footsteps leave the room.

"Ya, sorry about that," Sam said, "But they were human sedatives not animal tranquilizers…"

"I may not be totally vampire but I haven't slept in almost two weeks. You could have been a little more sensitive to my situation," I said holding my head as I sat up.

"I didn't know I'd even get the needle through your skin," Sam replied, "You want to tell me why you had Bella bring you here in the dead of night now? Charlie's been calling like crazy because she said something about driving you home and then she never went home. I'd like to get my story straight for the town Sherriff."

"Two friends and I were coming up here for some summer fun when I hit an elk somewhere around the Cascade Range and we were dying in the road when James stopped by and turned us. Now that I think back on it a little more carefully the nurse at the hospital that he brought us to that turned us away was probably his mate Victoria… son of a bitch," I grumbled.

"Okay that much Bella explained to me. I want to know why you wanted to come _here_ of all places. You should have known as a vampire you wouldn't stand much of a chance at living through that kind of ordeal," Sam said.

"I figured that a wolf I'd run into almost two weeks ago had the chance to kill me then but didn't. I took my chances. Besides, I'm obviously more human than vampire… actually I'm not even sure I'm more human than anything right now. My skin is like anyone else's, my eyes are normal, but I don't eat anything, I mean I feel nauseous from eating raw venison a few days ago because I think it's rotting in my stomach…And above all else I don't sleep. How is that normal for any supernatural or human being?" I was exasperated.

"You are in a unique situation. Bella said you told her you can hear thoughts too," Sam said, "Can you hear mine?"

"There have to be strong emotions tied to the thoughts of those around me for me to be able to hear them…" I paused; there was something off to the way the air felt. _What is it about this vampire chick? I hate her and yet I can't seem to get her out of my head. Even her scent seems less revolting than the others… Why is this happening to me of all the wolves? Is this what an imprint feels like? No, Sam always feels better than this…_ "I think Paul…well at least its angry enough to be Paul, has something that you need to talk to him about…"

"What?" Sam asked.

"Paul thinks that he may have imprinted but he thinks it doesn't feel right. Like I said, strong emotions have to be tied to those thoughts…I guess Emily isn't quite as strong an emotion invoker than you thought because your thoughts are only like whispers," I said the tiniest of smirks on my lips.

I followed Sam out on shaky legs, still tranked up by the stupid sedatives. Paul was still standing in wolf form outside but Bella was followed by three other people that I couldn't quite recognize as the sedatives had impaired a lot more of my senses than I thought.

"Rikki! You're awake!" Bella shouted wrapping her arms around my neck, "I thought you'd be out forever!"

"Ya, I'm still not totally awake. I feel more human than I did when I was human. How do you stand feeling human anyway?" I asked.

"Easy, I haven't felt anything else," Bella laughed.

"Oh good you're all right," I recognized Lara's voice but my eyesight was still fuzzy with sleep.

"I feel like I was hit over the head with a sledgehammer," I complained and felt an ice cold arm wrap around me to hold me up. I hadn't realized I was falling over until the solidity of my friends beside me was there.

"You look like you've been to hell and back," Valkyrie was there too she sounded more herself too, "What'd they do force human food down your gut?"

"Na, just a date rape drug," I joked but I heard a non-approving snort from Sam, "So you have any idea what you did to piss Paul off? I mean I know it's not hard to do but you really got under his fur," I said to Valkyrie now that my vision was clearing a bit.

"It may have something to do with the fact that I accidentally ran over the treaty line before I realized where it was. The humans really should have placed their sign better," she laughed.

"Na, I think he's in love with you," I laughed.

"He so is not," Valkyrie replied a little too quickly.

"Well when you guys showed up his thoughts were all over the place about him imprinting on a, and I quote 'damn bloodsucker.' Who knew it'd be easier for me to hear wolves' thoughts than humans or other vamps?" I shrugged and finally found my legs stabilizing under me, "Sam you drug me again and I will kill you."

"Dually noted," Sam shouted from somewhere across a field. Paul had shifted back and he was now talking with Sam in hushed tones.

"So what brings you guys over the treaty line? James send you?" I asked.

"No, we actually came to make sure these animals weren't ripping you to shreds. Laurent was a bit freaked out when he saw Bella drive you over the treaty line," Lara said.

"Oh, ya…I asked her to do that… I thought maybe the pack would have more answers for me than James and his posy about what was happening to me," I replied.

"Well with the fact that you are running a horrible fever I think you may be right," Valkyrie said.

"I am not running a fever, you guys are just vampire cold," I barked back although I had to admit I did feel a little overly warm.

"No Rikki, they're right. You're burning up," Bella said placing a hand on my forehead, her hand felt like an icicle.

"Welcome to the pack," Jacob's voice sounded from somewhere behind me in a sarcastic tone.

"How is that even possible? I was bleeding to death on the side of the highway two weeks ago and then I was a vampire and now I'm turning into one of the Quileute wolves?" I asked my voice squeaking with every word.

"Can I please go and get Carlisle now?" Bella asked.

"No, we already have enough vampires over the border. I don't like putting the tribe at that much risk," Sam said.

"How about we go to them then? You guys can send a wolf or two with us. I'm sure the four of us are enough to keep James and Victoria at bay. Laurent won't come after us," Lara suggested, I heard worry strong in her voice. She thought I was dying, _again_.

"I'll go and take Seth," Jacob suggested, "If he wants to come."

"Hell ya I wanna come! Anything for Bella," Seth's young voice sounded somewhere in the crowd of wolves that was now gathering.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Jake," Sam said.

"I wasn't asking your permission, Sam. Besides, you let me have my own pack early," Jacob scoffed and I heard the bone breaking, skin ripping sound of him turning into a wolf.

Before I knew it Lara and Valkyrie were loading me into the back of Bella's truck, "Dante, ride in the cab with Bella," Lara ordered.

"Dante?" I asked.

"Oh, right…sorry," Lara said, "I have an ability by the way. I will things to be true and most of the time it happens. Callie, or a version of her is at the cabin and well Dante now actually exists in a corporeal form."

"That's great for you," I said though I wasn't sure exactly that I could wrap my head around the information.

"Can you drive any faster, Bella? She's warmer than one of those wolves now and I'm afraid it's frying her brain like those sedatives must have done to her," Valkyrie said placing an ice cold hand on my forehead.

I let my eyes close and felt the cold breeze over my body lying in the bed of the old truck. I felt like I was burning up again like the change from dying human to vampire but it was worse than that. It was like it started in my bones and burned its way out. The world was cold and black around me as I found I couldn't hold my eyes open even when I tried. When we pulled down a patch of road that was more like a forest path in feel I felt fear grip at my stomach, there was a smell of death in the air and I realized it must be me. I may have been ready to die quickly last night by the teeth of the wolves but I wasn't ready to die in this way that made me feel like I was a burning, rotting corpse.

"Something's not right. It doesn't smell like there's been anyone here since last night," Lara said.

I felt the burning intensify as the car pulled to a stop and the breeze stopped. Then I felt Lara leave the car and one of the cold bodies keeping me from burning alive was gone as well. I felt a scream rip through my throat but it was so dry that I feared it made no sound.

I heard a cell phone being dialed and Bella's voice, though it sounded so far away, "Carlisle? We're at the house… we've got a vampire here who's dying… ya I know it doesn't make any sense but you're the only one we could think of that might be able to help…" I felt another scream rip through my throat as the burning turned from unbearable to bone breaking unbearable, "Can you just get here as fast as you can? I don't know how much longer she has…"

"Stay with us Rikki," it was Valkyrie's voice, right in my ear. I realized she must be holding me flush against her since Lara was off somewhere else, "You'll be okay…"

"It burns," was all I could say and I felt tears of molten lava escape my eyes.

"Bella, she's crying blood!" Valkyrie cried.

I felt a cold rush of air and smelled Lara close by, "There's ice in the freezer and the house is colder than it is out here. Let's get her into an ice bath," she said helping Valkyrie lift me.

"Carlisle is on his way. He said it'll be at least ten minutes though. He and Esme were hunting in Canada when I called," Bella said and I knew we were in the house now because everything echoed.

"If I live through this…and it's because of those damn sedatives…" I breathed.

"Don't worry, we'll all kill Sam if this is his doing," Bella promised as I was eased into a bathtub full of ice. It made the burning worse. "But Carlisle will help with whatever it is…"

"He won't know what's going on," I managed through the pain, "I'm not a wolf, I'm not a vampire and I'm not human. How could he know what is going on?"

"Don't talk like that Rikki…" Lara, she sounded like she was crying, "You _will_ be okay."

I felt more burning tears slip from my eyes as the pain worsened. It felt like I had been thrown into a volcano while it was dormant, I'd somehow managed to pull it into my very center and it was now erupting from inside my body. It burned everywhere and I felt like every bone in my body was shattering. Even worse my head felt like there was so much pressure that at any moment it would explode. "I guess I was meant to die on the side of the highway," I said allowing more burning tears to escape.

I felt cold vampire skin connect with my cheek, "Lara told you not to talk like that Rikki. You _WILL_ be okay if I have to kill you and turn you back into a vampire again," Valkyrie scolded, "Carlisle will be here any minute and then you _WILL_ be okay! Do you hear me?" she was crying now too.

I tried to answer telling her that I loved her and Lara like they were my sisters because it wasn't blood that connected us but our souls. But I was in too much pain and all that escaped my lips were another scream. And then there was blackness crowding over my body where the pain was and I felt the icy grip of death taking me for the second time this month. Maybe it was my time to go…I just had to believe that I would be going somewhere better. Maybe I would join that pack of wolves that I loved so much in the woods. Bryan and I could start a pack of our own, right? I knew he'd felt attached to me form the moment we met in that clearing.

I could picture him clearly, his black fur and his dazzling blue eyes. I could feel my hands in his ruff and my voice as I sung softly to him letting the breeze carry a silent prayer.

_One day I'll be with you,_

_I'll run among you,_

_We'll sleep under the stars,_

_Talk about the peace that was._

_But now you are lost to me,_

_So lost to me,_

_If only I could sing in the words of the wolf with you,_

_Then my soul would feel complete._

**A/N: I'm so sorry I keep ending these chapters all sad and what not but ya...So who shall I continue in the perspective of? Bella? Lara? Valkyrie? Jacob? Seth? Well you'll see soon enough.**


	12. Book Ten

**Book Ten: Seth and Carlisle**

**Saturday – July 21, 2012**

I'd been so worried for this girl that as soon as we'd gotten to the Cullen's house I'd shifted back into my human form to help. I'd helped Lara fill the tub with ice while she carried Rikki in and had brought cold towels for them as well. Her screams still filled me. If this was anything like it was for her when she was turned into a vampire I had a new sympathy for what were supposed to be my mortal enemies.

I liked Rikki. Her curly red hair had caught my eye a few weeks ago when she and her friends were driving toward the reservation. They did it every year around the same time and I'd gotten used to running with them along the highway each year. I hadn't imprinted on the pretty girl but I felt connected to her somehow, especially as a wolf. But it was all I could bear to see her in so much pain. I didn't want her dead but if it would end her suffering I wished that death would take her and make her an angel already.

It helped, thinking of her as an angel up in heaven watching over us all. Her white dress billowing out and her red hair dancing in the breeze as her wings emerged from her back. She'd finally get her wish in heaven to know what it was like to be a wolf. She'd be able to sing her song with those of us who'd been wolves and passed on. I could see her living that dream, her white angel's dress forming soft fur over her body as her white wolf spirit emerged and she joined the elders of the tribe who had been spirit warriors like us.

I felt a longing in my heart to actually see her get her dream to grow fur and a tail. And that was when another blood-curdling scream shook me from my thoughts. Her eyes had blood trails streaming from them now that smelled like vampire venom. Maybe she did have the wolf gene but it was so small that the change wasn't killing her till now? I could feel tears streaming from my own eyes and could almost feel the burning that was eating up her body.

_Make it stop. Please, just make the pain go away._ I thought they must have been my thoughts but they sounded oh so much like hers, like her soft melodic voice. _I want the burning to stop!_ Now I was sure it wasn't my thoughts but I could definitely feel the burning as if it were happening to me.

I knelt next to the tub and grabbed one of her hands in mine, "It'll stop soon," I promised though I had to admit her hand felt colder than death, no longer burning with the fever that she'd left Sam's place in.

I felt strong hands on my shoulders and looked up to see Jacob, "They're back. We need to leave," he said pulling me to my feet.

I followed Jacob out as another scream ripped from my angel's lips. Her thoughts still echoed in my head, _Can't I just be dead already? Is it really necessary for me to go through this torment?_ And then suddenly there was nothing. My mind went still and I had to stop and look back toward the bathroom that Dr. Carlisle was just entering. I couldn't hear her ragged breaths anymore. "No," my words weren't louder than a breath.

I felt Jacob's hand on my arm as he dragged me outside. "This is not our place to be Seth," he growled to me.

I felt hollow. No, I felt worse than hollow, as if a part of me had just died. That was when I heard Carlisle speak in a voice I shouldn't have heard, "She's gone, there's nothing more I can do."

Jacob had heard it too. I knew he had because even he stopped where he was. I was ready to fall to my knees when I saw Alice glare at me from where she stood just on the edge of the trees. _She should never have been on your land_. She seemed to say through her glare.

"Jacob, if I may talk to you in private please?" Carlisle said, "Seth you're welcome to wait in the living room."

I stumbled my way into the living room to wait for Jacob and Bella came to join me shortly after. We sat in silence for what felt like the longest moment in my life before she finally spoke, "I've never watched anyone die before." I stared at her like she'd just said that she'd been the cause for Rikki's death. "I wish she hadn't suffered so much…"

"I wish this had never happened to her. She and her friends used to come up every summer around the fourth to body board you know. Even as humans the cold never seemed to bother them like it does most people," I said, "I used to watch them hoping maybe I'd imprint on one of them…but I guess it doesn't work so well when they're all a couple years older than you."

"I don't think age has anything to do with it Seth," Bella said giving me a quick hug.

"I only turned sixteen this year," I complained, "She'd be twenty in October… I think four years is too much even for an imprint. I'd only ever be a little brother to her."

"You don't know that. Look at Edward and me. He's got a whole ninety years on me and that doesn't make either of us love each other any less. It's just the change that makes it difficult," Bella said.

"You just watched Rikki die in the kind of pain that causes a human to become a vampire and you still want to be like them?" I asked, my voice taking on a pitch that I didn't know it could.

"Think about it this way. If age didn't matter between the two of you and you were human, wouldn't you want to be with her forever?" Bella asked and I couldn't help but think she had a point.

I looked back toward the bathroom wanting to be able to say my final good-byes to the girl who I thought currently was the love of my life. Bella nodded at me and I walked silently to the empty room. My beautiful angel was still sitting in her bath of ice. Someone had cleaned the bloody tears from her face and she looked more peaceful, as if she'd finally gotten to sleep. I ran a hand over her soft hair as I'd imagined doing for so many years and over her cheek. I imagined her green eyes looking up at me with love in them, and held onto that image when Lara came in and carried her body out. My heart ached as if I had imprinted and she'd died, I suddenly wanted more than anything to either be dead or to imprint so that my pain would go away. I wondered if this was how my sister felt, Leah, lost in a world where the man she thought she was going to marry ended up with our cousin.

"Seth?" I hadn't realized how long I'd been on the floor until Bella had come in and spoke, "They're going to give her a memorial service…do you want to go?"

I rose to my feet noticing just how hard the floor had been under my knees and I silently nodded to Bella who lead me out to the back yard of the Cullens' house. Her friends must have cleaned her up for the service because her hair was pulled up letting only a few loose curls fall around her face and she was dressed in a clean white summer dress. It looked so Rikki that I could almost imagine her pulse running back through her body. She was more beautiful than any angel I could imagine and I honestly had to hold myself back and remind myself she was dead or I would have given her one kiss just to let her know how I felt. One kiss that would bring her back from the edge of oblivion and back into my arms.

I held onto those thoughts in my head and they seemed to form a song like she'd done so many times while I'd watched her body board.

_My angel dressed in white_

_Come morning light_

_Shine upon her face_

_Wake with the sun rays_

_Let me walk in the dawn's light with my angel girl._

_With hair so soft yet red_

_Love burns in my heart_

_A longing that never fades_

_In morning light her beauty shines_

_But by the light of the moon I shall walk with my angel girl._

_A wolf's howl is her heart's song_

_A gentle breeze is her sweet voice_

_A crashing wave is her hand upon my heart_

_She eclipses my very being_

_My beautiful angel girl._

**A/N: Seth's chapter! Yay! Sorry for what I did to Rikki but that's where the story was going so that's where the story went. Up next Jacob chapter! Who doesn't love Jacob right? I mean he is "Hotter than you" right? Lol sorry I just love that line from the movie, one of the only redeeming qualities of it.**


	13. Book Eleven

**Book Eleven: Jacob Black**

**Saturday – July 21, 2012**

I ran beside Seth keeping to the woods as Bella drove. I was alert for any danger that might come to Bella while his mind was focused on the blood-curdling screams from the dying vampire girl. She smelled of death and blood and vampire venom and I couldn't see how Seth could stand it.

And then there were his thoughts when Bella pulled to a stop in the Cullens' driveway. _My summer angel, you can't die, you won't die._ I saw memories of his flash through his mind so quickly I wondered if I'd been imagining them or not.

_Seth walked along the beach as the three new vampire girls, as humans, surfed the waves. He'd noticed the girl with the red hair the most. He picked out, over all that distance between them, the vibrant green of her eyes and the slightly tanned yet sunburned pink skin under her wetsuit._

I shook my head as he jumped to another memory of one summer that he'd gotten up the nerve to talk to her.

"_Hey you guys are pretty good with the body boards. You ever think of trying surfing instead?" he asked the redhead but she was staring wistfully off into the water._

"_Na, we're not quite that coordinated," the blonde girl had answered._

"_You guys think maybe we could try cliff diving this year?" the redhead asked not even noticing Seth._

"_You're crazy, Katie," the brunette had replied._

"_Ya, we're sure to catch our deaths if we try that! It's not like we're the Twilight wolf pack or vampires," the blonde had laughed._

Seth had really liked this girl. How had I not seen that before? Maybe his sister was just too caught up in her own angst that I hadn't noticed her brother's love tragedy. The three of us seemed to need imprints more than any other wolf in either pack.

_Seth was running in the woods along a red jeep. The three girls were in the car singing along to some song with their hair flowing behind them. He'd gotten too close to the edge of the tree line and the redhead had seen him._

"_Hey, did you guys see that? It looked like a huge wolf in those trees," the redhead had said to her friends._

"_Eyes on the road, Katie. We don't want to get into an accident," the blonde had replied._

_I could feel in this memory, Seth's heart jump in his chest at the idea that she'd seen him._

He'd shifted back to human and was now helping them with the dying girl but I'd caught his last memory, the one that kept him motivated to get her better.

_Seth had been running alongside the jeep as he'd come to do every year when he'd seen the elk step in front of the speeding vehicle. He watched in horror as the girl he called his angel ricochet off the elk and into a pine on the side of the road throwing her and her friends from the vehicle and onto the class covered ground. He'd been frozen in horror as a pool of blood built up around the girl he'd called his angel and the smell of her death hung in the air. He'd then seen the blonde man emerge from the trees as his dying angel sang to her death and watched in horror as the vampire man gave her quite literally the kiss of death. He could never be with his summer angel again because from this moment on, she was technically the enemy._

I shook my head as I heard another scream rip from the dying girl inside the house and went, in my human form, to check on Seth. When I entered the bathroom he was on his knees next to the tub with the dying girl. He had one of his hands in hers. "It'll stop soon," he promised her though I could see on his face that he'd lost most of his hope that his summer angel would live through the day. I heard footsteps of the Cullens then.

I placed my hands on Seth's shoulders then, "They're back. We need to leave," I said pulling him to his feet and willing him to let go of Rikki's hand. He could say his good byes when she was gone and cleaned up so he wouldn't have to remember her in this awful state.

We walked silently out of the room and even I could hear her struggle to breath. But when Carlisle pushed passed me I heard it stop. She had never stopped breathing in the time I'd known her, even when Sam had sedated her. But her lungs didn't beg for air anymore and I knew she was gone. "No," I heard Seth utter under his breath and knew he'd heard her stop breathing too.

I grabbed his arm wanting to get him as far away from her death as possible and growled at him, "This is not our place to be Seth." It hurt to be so firm with him knowing just how much he'd lost. I had to wonder if it would feel that way if I lost Bella. I knew I'd lose her eventually. I'd already given up the fight for her heart when I'd seen the way she looked at Edward and remembered the movies that I'd seen that had depicted our story. I had to have faith that their daughter would come to me in the same way and that I would be complete again. But I knew that it would hurt until that moment that I laid my eyes upon her face.

Then I heard Carlisle's voice, "She's gone, there's nothing more I can do." I'd wanted Seth well away from that so he'd have a sliver of hope left but it didn't seem that it was possible now. I stood frozen in the driveway. Seth was on his knees and he was looking over to the forest line. The small Cullen, Alice was standing there glaring at him and I knew she blamed us for the passing of one of her kind. Carlisle came to the front door then, "Jacob, if I may talk to you in private please? Seth you're welcome to wait in the living room."

I followed him inside and waited until I heard Seth sink into a couch before I closed the door to Carlisle's office. "I don't know any more about this girl than you do," I said.

"I know. It's nothing I've ever seen before. But you said you didn't know who Embry's father was, that it's possible that he left the tribe and found a wife somewhere else. I want to know if there's any possible way that this girl might have somehow come in contact with the gene through him," Carlisle said.

"No, she would have died when she was bitten if that were the case. If she'd had any kind of wolf gene in her at all it would have had to be so small that it took weeks to realize there was venom in her system and the gene doesn't react like that. One of our younger wolves got bitten by a passerby a few months ago and he'd gone into a seizing fit within seconds. He was dead in an hour. There's no way this girl had the wolf gene," I said.

"I've never heard of this kind of reaction happening in any other case," Carlisle said, "When I went in to check on her she'd literally pushed all the vampire venom in her system out through her pours as if her body had been expelling toxins. Her blood was laced with it in what she cried out too."

"So you're telling me that this girl's body was turning itself human again and it thought it could do it by pushing the venom out of her pours?" I asked bewildered.

"I don't think her body was trying to turn itself human. But it was definitely trying to expel the vampire within her," Carlisle said.

"So it was like she'd built up immunity to vampirism?" I asked somewhere past belief that I was speaking.

"Something like that. Only her body trying to fight it off like an infection killed her," Carlisle said.

"She and her friends were turned on the edge of death; do you think that maybe fighting off the infection brought her back to that state of near death?" I asked.

"No. Her body was completely healed from that thanks to the vampire venom she was turned with. But something in her wasn't strong enough to live without that venom. It's a very curious case and I've taken samples of her DNA to test so that we can be prepared if one of her friends exhibits the same problem," Carlisle said, "Thank you Jacob."

"I just wish, for Seth's sake, that she'd pulled herself back from the brink of death," I said leaving Carlisle's office.

Bella was sitting alone on the couch when I got back to the living room. I sat down beside her. Apparently Edward hadn't gotten the news of the vampire dying in his house yet so she was alone. "I've never watched someone die before," she said to me.

"I've watched plenty of people die," I said unable to find more cheerful words, "If you become one of them you'll have to watch the people you care about die off one by one anyway."

"Way to lighten the mood Jake," she growled.

"Hey, I fought for you but you've made it clear that you're going to follow the books. If that's the case I can only hope that you give me a consolation prize and get vamped up pregnant," I barked back.

"Why do you do this Jake? Why?" she asked.

"Because this is the way I found to cope with it. You know how Seth felt about that girl? You know what he's wishing right now? He's wishing that he could imprint on the next girl he sees so that the pain of losing that girl will melt away and he'll forget her name. That's how I've been feeling since I saw you with Cullen. I know how it feels and he'll have to learn some way to get over it. But at least he knows that the girl he loves is dead and not off with a bloodsucker," I growled getting up and walking out the front door.

"You don't have to be like that Jake! You could be happy if you just tried!" she yelled at me as I ran for the shelter of the trees and my wolf body. I knew she was right but I didn't want to feel anymore. Even though Seth hadn't become a wolf while I raced through the woods I could feel that he wanted to be numb too. He wanted the pain to stop.

I got up a hill that overlooked the Cullens' backyard and watched as Bella lead Seth, numb with pain, out the back door. They'd set up a memorial service and I could see the pain on his face lessen when he saw Rikki cleaned up and looking ready to join in an angelic choir as soon as her dove wings grew from her back. I felt as if the whole world was crushing around me as I looked at how hurt he was looking at the dead girl he never got a chance to truly love. We were a broken pack now, Seth, Leah and I. We all fit, we were the misfits. Leah had lost her fiancé to her cousin, I'd lost my girl to a vampire and Seth had lost his girl to death. I let my head fall back as a mournful howl filled my throat. I cried for Seth, Leah and myself. And then I heard Paul's thoughts crashing through the undergrowth toward me.

_She lose the fight?_ He asked me.

_Ya, and I don't know how Seth's going to recover. Why are you here anyway?_ I asked.

_I came to join the misfit pack. Looks like I'm just as messed up as the rest of you. Rachel came home today and I thought it would help considering the books have been right about so many things but when I looked at her there was nothing. That vampire chick has her hooks in me deep._ Paul said to me as he looked down on the field with me.

_But you didn't imprint on her._ I said.

_Sam said I might not be able to since she'd kill me if I kissed her…you know the whole venom thing…but he said that the brunette had some sort of power that willed things to be true so maybe it won't be so Romeo and Juliet._

I had to laugh at that but when I looked down at the blonde and the glare she'd thrown Paul I had to think it was a one way love there too. He definitely fit in the pack of misfits._ Welcome my troubled and screwed up brother._

**A/N: YAY! Paul's screwed up! Although we already knew that, I mean he's got worse anger management issues than all the rest of the pack put together. But I loved the idea of giving this story a real Romeo and Juliet kind of story to it. Well with Rikki dead who's POV should the story continue on? Do you guys want the story to be focused on Valkyrie and Paul or Lara and Dante? Well it doesn't really matter much because by the time most of you will get around to reading this chapter I'll be halfway done with the next one! Well oh well. I love how I have so much inspiration for this story! I'm totally bringing James back in the next chapter too so get ready for some evil action!**


	14. Book Twelve

**Book Twelve: Rikki**

**Time – Unknown**

I remember the pain ebbing and sitting in a bathtub of ice and then nothing. I felt my eyes open but it was so dark I saw nothing but blackness and it felt like I was floating, no falling. I couldn't find my voice to scream out for help and somehow I knew it would be futile anyway.

Before long I saw a light somewhere above me and realized I wasn't falling, or rather I wasn't falling downward, more I was falling upward. When I reached the light I was able to pull myself up through what seemed to be a hole in the ground that I was under and I emerged into a green and golden forest clearing. There were lavender flowers all around the ring of trees and butterflies with golden and white wings danced playfully in the breeze.

"Is this heaven?" I wondered aloud feeling strange to hear my own voice escape my lips.

"If this was heaven you'd be dead," a female voice belonging to a white wolf and my green eyes said.

"Well I remember dying so that would make sense," I replied.

"You didn't die. Your body merely underwent another change. You see you were still partially a vampire which was holding you back. What you are is another breed entirely," the she-wolf said and then turned her head to the sky.

I followed her gaze to notice a gorgeous full moon that was larger than one I'd ever seen in the past. "What am I then? Did my body start the werewolves back up again? Is that why there's a full moon here?"

The she wolf laughed, "No. There's a full moon here because you find it peaceful. This place is what your mind has created to help you recover away from your body. Lycanthropy is an infection as is Vampirism. What you have is a gene, like the Quileute wolves. But your body has created this gene from your Vampirism infection."

"Then what am I?" I asked again growing mildly impatient.

"You are a breed that will come to be known as a shape shifter," the she-wolf said, "And before you tell me that it's technically what the Quileute wolves are you're wrong. Their gene is limited to change them into wolves of a larger size. You are special and unique. You wanted to be human so badly while you were infected with Vampirism that your mind created a way out for you. When your body is fit for your mind again you will be able to shift into any form you desire."

"Any form?" I asked.

"Any at all," the she-wolf said, "And if you so desire a wolf tail and paws you have the mental capacity to share the telepathy that the wolves share. After all, every wolf deserves a pack."

"So my abilities were all leading up to this transformation?" I asked.

"Yes Rikki, that's only what I just explained," the she-wolf said annoyed, "Walk with me through the forest of your mind," she said flicking her tail and I followed her.

"Should I know anything else before I get thrown back into my body?" I asked.

"Quiet," the she-wolf ordered. She led me deeper and deeper into the forest that I wondered if our journey would be over before I was thrown back into my body. Or maybe that's where she was leading me, back to my body. She stopped abruptly, "Another minutes' walk from here is a small lake. In this lake faces a challenge for you. I cannot continue on this path with you as the challenge is for you and you alone. If you pass you will not lose yourself to your change. I wish you the best of luck."

"May I ask you one last question before I go?" I asked.

"I know of which the question you speak. I am the embodiment of your new gene and with it a part of your soul. If you pass your challenge you may be able to create more of your new kind by giving a part of your soul to people. Good luck," the she-wolf said as she faded away into the deep green of the forest around me.

It was dark in the forest now and the full moon above my head had turned red as a blood moon. I turned toward the direction we had been walking and headed forward. When I saw the lake through the trees I shivered with unease. It looked like the lake was a lake of blood not of water and its gooey contents lapped hungrily at the shore. What challenge could await me here?

Suddenly Daughtry's song "There and Back Again" played through my head. And I knew what my challenge was.

I took a breath and headed for the edge of the lake. The bloody water lapped at my toes as I took steps closer and closer. I then decided to plunge forward. There was no going back. I had to survive the sea of my own blood and come out the other side. And from this side of the lake I could see now, the memorial service that stood in the Cullens' back yard waiting for me. I took another step and found myself walking over the top of the lake. Was my confidence keeping me from being plunged into the toxic aroma of death below me or was this just part of the challenge?

I had to admit walking over the top of this bloody lake getting nothing but my feet dirty with the death below me didn't seem like much of a challenge, but maybe since I'd taken the direct route instead of going around the lake I'd shown my ability to follow instructions. When I reached the center of the lake my pride was short lived as bloody hands reached through the surface to grab at my ankles. They were strong these hands from the death below and I couldn't continue forward. But they wanted to pull me down, and they did. I wanted to scream for help and by the time I'd been drug down to my waist I did scream. I saw then the white she-wolf standing on the other end of the lake, standing between me and the vision of where I needed to get to, to return to my body. "Help," I choked out as more of my body disappeared into the bloody lake.

The look on her face was pained and I realized then that she wanted to help me, but she was non-corporeal even in the world of my mind. I sucked in a breath then as I was tugged below the surface of the blood lake and as I was pulled deeper and deeper I noticed the red of the lake lessen and lessen into clear crystal waters. When all the red had drained from the water around me the tugging stopped and I noticed that there was nothing around me but fish, small fish that shimmered silver in the light of the moon above and with every move toward them I made they would swim away. This challenge had been simple. It was like being reborn. I had to go through my fear of death and come out clean and new and as I swam for the surface on the other end of the lake where the now shimmering white she-wolf waited I felt my heart leap with joy.

When I surfaced and pulled myself out of the water she smiled at me, "You have done well, but you have not come out unscathed. You have been reborn and with that will come new responsibilities." She flicked her tail toward the lake that was now behind me and I turned to look down at my reflection. My green eyes were lighter, more of a minty green than the evergreen they were before and there were now golden flecks in them as if I had wolf's eyes. "A trait the new breed will share. Where the temperature of the skin distinguishes the Quileute wolves and the color of the eyes distinguishes the feeding habits of the vampires your kind will now show gold with a lighter version of their eyes," she said, "But now it is time for you to return to your world. I will be with you always."

She faded again into the colors around her until just her eyes, my eyes were staring out and when they shut she had gone and I was opening my eyes to the grieving friends around me who thought I was dead. I heard howling up on the hill and the soft sobs coming from Lara and Valkyrie but most of all I saw the hope and happiness return to Seth's eyes when he saw my eyes open.

"She's alive!" Seth's words filled me with the life I now felt in my beating heart and I looked over at the horizon to see the sun breaking over the hill filling the dawn sky with beautiful colors. It was a start to the first perfect day in many to come.

**A/N: Okay so I know I'm horrible. I let you all think she was really dead. But come on, this charrie is based off of me so of course I wouldn't kill myself off in the middle of the story. Plus how could I do that to Seth? I mean she's not going to fall for him or anything...or is she? No she's not. She's a whole new breed of supernatural so of course she's not going to fall for him. She's got to go out there and find someone who will understand her. Valkyrie and Paul have enough love angst in this story to fill that void anyway.**


	15. Book Thirteen

**Book Thirteen: Rikki**

**Sunday – July 29, 2012**

It had been a week since my near-death experience and I was now living with Leah and Seth whose father had recently passed away leaving the two of them everything, which was not much but enough. I was getting used to eating again and spent a lot of time with Emily helping her cook for the pack. I was like the lone wolf that had been taken in as an omega but I didn't mind much. Even as an omega it was nice to be part of a pack.

Seth was clingier than ever since I'd moved in. I mean, I get it. He had a crush and it was cute and he'd watched me look like I'd died so of course a couple days of hanging all over me had been all in good nature. But honestly he was a minor and I was an adult, and I was so not into the whole cougar thing. Maybe it had been a mistake to give him a quick kiss on the cheek when he'd told me how he felt. I mean sure he was cute, but in a little brother sort of way. I mean I was his sister's age for crying out loud. But I couldn't help feel that maybe it would have been different if he'd told me he'd imprinted, but he hadn't so it didn't matter.

"Are you going to see your friends again today?" Seth asked early this morning.

"I'm not awake yet, Seth," I grumbled from my pillow.

"Oh sorry… I just thought it'd be nice to get up before the sun," he said in his usual cheery voice.

"Ya well when you spent the last three weeks sleeping only two days, the sun can wait," I mumbled rolling over to see that the sun was just peaking over the horizon out my window.

"Well you're up now. Do you want to see if Emily has made breakfast yet?" he was bouncing on the end of my bed now.

"Seth, we need to talk…" I'd let his feelings go too long without being dealt with.

"Jake told me what that means when a girl says it," he said calming down instantly.

"Look…I'm touched that you find me attractive, and normally I wouldn't say age mattered but it doesn't feel at all right with the gap in our ages. I mean I had a little sister in my old life that would be your age and so it's just too hard to see this kind of relationship working out," I said, "Besides, tell me how it would be fair to me if we found a way for it to work and then one day you imprinted on a girl your own age."

He stared at me for the longest moment and I thought he might actually cry, "What if I don't imprint on anyone for a hundred years?"

"It still wouldn't be fair to me if I fell for your boyish charm and you did imprint though," I replied, "Think of what happened to your sister. Do you really want to do that to me?"

"No…but…" I stopped him.

"There are no buts in this Seth. We can be the best of friends if that's what you want but don't put me through Leah's drama," I swear he looked like he would cry at any moment but he held his composure.

"Well I suppose I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later… and they wonder why I hadn't gotten up the courage to tell you how I felt until you'd practically died," he said hopping up and leaving the room in a minorly depressed version of himself.

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face, but I couldn't have let it go on any longer. I sighed and slipped out of bed walking sleepily down the hall to the bathroom. I showered a lot longer than normal feeling dirty after turning Seth down in a way that now seemed so harsh. My red curls bounced as the water slid off them when I dried off but I had the strangest feeling that I was being watched.

"You know if looks were everything you'd have every guy falling all over you," Jacob's voice made my eyes snap open.

"Seriously?" I growled seeing him sitting on the toilet, "I know you've 'seen it all before' because of the way that you and your pack change with Leah being the only female but really? You do know that when I change my clothes become my skin right?"

"Consider it initiation," Jacob laughed.

I growled in the voice of my wolf. That was something Jacob and the wolves couldn't do, summon their wolf in human form and use their voice, "Why are you in here anyway? Bella depressing you so badly you need someone to jerk off to?"

"Ouch. If I hadn't seen you as a wolf I'd think you were a feisty kitten," Jacob replied.

"To the point Jacob," I growled again.

"Okay, fine," he ran his hand through his hair, which had grown almost long enough for him to get it into a ponytail again, a short one given but a ponytail none the less, "I decided I'm not done fighting for her. The bloodsucker hasn't proposed yet so I figure with some help I might stand a chance…"

He looked at me then with a so-serious look that I'd never seen him use before, "And?" I asked.

"I thought maybe you could maybe….I don't know…help make her jealous?" it wasn't a plan it was a question.

"Jake, I just had to tell Seth that he needed to back down. Don't make me hurt two guys in one morning," I pleaded.

"It's not like you have someone else. I mean we don't know much about your kind, you could have something like an imprint too…It's just long enough to see if it affects her. Just a couple of kisses in front of her nothing more. I swear," he held up a hand like he was taking an oath.

"Why is it all men are so helpless?" I asked.

"Because they're men and don't think with their brains," Leah's voice came from outside the bathroom, "Are you almost done? I fell in some mud on the patrol last night and _really_ need a shower."

"Ya, sorry. If Jacob here could have waited until I was dressed I'd be out of here already," I said shaking a hand through his hair thoroughly messing it up like he was a kid.

He did his best to pull it back out of his eyes before following me out of the bathroom. He waited outside my bedroom while I slipped on a pair of short white jean shorts and a white tank but he didn't wait much longer before barging in. "So will you help me?" he asked.

"I don't think it's going to work on Bella. I mean she's not like most girls… she may have feelings for you but she's not going to fall for you because you're all over another chick. And it might hurt Seth worse…I mean I do have to live here," I said.

"We'll tell Seth the secret so it won't do anything to him. Besides he'll figure it out eventually with the whole wolf telepathy anyway. And if it becomes unbearable for you to be near him while you're helping me you can stay at my place, hell you could probably even stay with Sam and Emily," Jacob said.

"Why did you suggest I stay at your place, Jake?" I asked suddenly very keen to hear his thoughts.

"For the illusion…" he said. _Come on, it's not that hard… Please… And while you're at it stay out of my head would you?_

"I will hear what you're thinking whenever I want," I half growled, "Besides I will kind of need to know your every thought around Bella as if we'd really gotten into a relationship if it's to be believable. It's not like I'm Edward, just think of it as we're patrolling when I can hear _EVERYTHING_ that goes through your head anyway."

"Everything? I mean the pack can't hear everything I'm thinking…" Jacob said.

"Oh trust me; we can hear _EVERYTHING_, Jake. Leah's really getting sick of you fantasizing about Bella while we're on patrol. I'm getting pretty sick of it too," I replied.

"I'm a guy," he shrugged.

"Look, let Leah and I patrol together from now on so we can get away from those thoughts of yours and keep them to yourself while I'm pretending to like you and I'll help you," I said.

"That's fine. It means I don't have to live with her triangle issues anymore," he said happily.

"God Jake, we have to live your triangle even as humans! And now you're pulling me into it. Bring it up again and I'm out, got it?" I growled.

"Ya I got it," Jacob said suddenly ashamed, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," I said, "We still have to make it believable…which I'm not really looking forward to… How old are you anyway?"

"Seventeen," Jacob said.

"God even you're freaking jail bait! If your dad presses charges on me I'm taking you down with me," I growled.

Then he did something I didn't even see coming and he kissed me. It must have been a quick kiss but something about it made my head spin and made it seem like it lasted forever. I'd become warmer than average as the new supernatural breed but his skin was still like fire on mine as if our bodies were willing any feelings to be true. When he pulled away I was almost sad that he had.

"Have you tried doing that to her?" I asked.

"Didn't want her to break her hand," he shrugged.

"Jake, I don't like you and honestly, that was amazing," I blushed lightly, "And if you tell _ANYONE_ I said that, I'll kill you."

"Noted," he said, and it looked as if he was blushing too.

**A/N: I have to thank my friend Kat for helping me get through this chapter. It was like I hit a twelve foot wall and was waiting for a super power to get over it and she opened the door and lead me through with mini rolos. Ha ha I'm terrible with that analogy but it's basically what kept me going was idea bouncing off of her and then treating myself to rolos when I finished each page while writing this.**

**Anyway, coming up next is more of Bella and Edward and...JAMES! Let the game begin.**


	16. Book Fourteen

**Book Fourteen: Rikki and the Game**

**Wednesday – August 1, 2012**

I spent a lot of time with Bella the last couple days trying to figure out why I'd started having feelings for Jacob. I mean it helped him make her jealous, if that was what it was doing to her, but it suddenly felt unfair to me because I wanted him to kiss me now. No it was more than that; it was like I _needed_ him to kiss me.

"Why the change?" Bella asked.

"What?" I replied.

"Why the change? I mean a few days ago you were telling me that he was an arrogant son of a bitch. I mean I know he can be a little annoying to you and Leah with the whole mind meld thing, so I know you didn't mean it that badly, but why do you now like him?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I mean one day he's telling me he's totally in love with you and the next second I know he's kissing me with…I don't even know what emotion but it just felt right you know?"

"Like when I kiss Edward?" she blushed.

"No," I suddenly remembered the purpose of obsessing over Jacob around Bella was to make her jealous, "He has to hold himself back so he doesn't hurt you. It's a one way kind of thing…with me and Jake, I don't know…it's like all consuming, like I could never get enough if I tried."

"Sounds like love is in the air. But what are you going to do if he imprints?" Bella asked.

"I'll deal with it then. I mean, I've been inside Leah and Sam's heads. They had the kind of love that comes with being human. With me and Jake, it's more instinctual…probably nothing but hormones…" I said trying to convince myself.

"You're not very convincing. I can see it all over your face. When I showed up it was like you hated to leave his side," Bella said, if only she knew I spent all my free time she wasn't around as far away from him as possible, "And the way he looks at you…It's almost enough to hurt me, I mean he never used to look at me that way."

Damn, Jacob must be a good actor if Bella thought he was looking at me like he loved me. I mean at best he kept his fantasies about Bella at bay, but he'd replaced them with ones of me which was utterly annoying. "I think it's called lust," I said simply.

Bella laughed, "Okay so you're totally in denial. Fine, let's talk about something else. So Alice wants to take me shopping and…well considering I see you in the same shorts and tank every day…well if you came along she might be more focused on you," she paused, "Please spare me the Alice torture!"

I had to laugh then, "Okay, okay fine. Just as long as I'm not the one that turns into a doll."

"Oh don't worry. It's just Seattle for the weekend. The worst she can do is give you a wardrobe you'll drown in at Leah's place," Bella said.

"Oh, I'm not living at Leah's anymore. It was too painful to see Seth looking so heartbroken every day so Billy gave me Rachel's old room," I said.

"You've moved in with him?" Bella sounded shocked.

"It's just until I can get a place of my own. Calm down Bella. Jake is still jail bait for me," I replied looking at her horrified face, "Don't tell me you regret trying to kiss him now."

"No, it's not that…" she turned some deep shade of red and I could hear her thoughts clearly.

"Oh god Bella, you didn't! Oh god, of all the thoughts you share with me did it have to be that one? I mean until Jake kissed me I got enough of that from him of you!" I couldn't keep myself from laughing.

"Don't tell Edward," Bella pleaded.

"I don't want to think about it ever again Bells, don't worry about it," I laughed.

**Saturday – August 4, 2012**

Seattle. It had been so long since I'd seen the area. I mean I'd technically died and left Seattle behind back almost a month ago. It felt like so much longer than that.

"Hey, Earth to Rikki!" Alice was calling my name from the entrance to the Macy's building.

"Sorry…It just feels like so long since I've seen a skyline," I said hurrying in after them.

"She's just missing the jail bait," Bella teased.

"You sound jealous, Bella. Wouldn't want my brother to hear you now," Alice joked.

If only Alice knew that Bella was feeling a little jealous. Not because of Jacob's feelings for me, or rather his fake feelings, but because it seemed as if I'd taken one of her best friends from her. I felt bad. Jacob's plan was working, but in the wrong way.

"Okay. We seriously need to do something about you," Alice said to me, "I mean could you look any more like a member of the pack?"

"No tattoos," I said showing off my bare arms.

"And that would be the only way you'd look more butch," she complained, "Couldn't you at least run around in a summer dress or something? Change up the look, go for a skirt and a tunic top?"

"I was plenty fashion forward before everything happened Alice, but I have to be practical about the way I dress. If I fall in the mud on a patrol it gets all over my clothes," I said.

"But you're not always on patrol," Alice said raising her eyebrows at me, "Come on at least go for a little badass biker chick or something!"

"And here I thought we were here for Bella," I laughed.

"Oh we'll get to that mess later. But I want to know you'll work with me first," Alice said.

"Just don't turn me into one of you and I'll be fine with anything," I replied. A couple hours later I wish I hadn't. He'd put me in everything from an evening gown to a cocktail dress and everything in-between. Not even a pair of jeans in sight. "Come on Alice, I said be practical," I complained.

"Oh we'll get to that later. I wanted to have some fun seeing how pretty you could look if you tried first," she said, "Besides you'll need a party dress for Bella's birthday party next month."

"If she gets a paper cut I'm blaming you," I said, very seriously.

"Ya Alice, do you really think that'll be a good idea?" Bella asked.

"We won't wrap anything that way to save you the problems," Alice grumbled.

* * *

Back at the hotel Bella and I crashed on one of the fluffy beds. "I've run to Canada and back before and been less tired than a morning with her in a store," I complained.

"I know right? She's a little too ambitious for human stamina," Bella said.

We laughed as Alice scowled at us. It was then that I felt a chill come over the room. I could see it as clearly as I saw Alice standing in front of me:

_James standing over Bella's dead body, blood dripping from his mouth. "Come and get me," he said simply._

And then it was over.

"Alice? Rikki? What's going on?" Bella asked.

"Alice, what was that?" I asked.

"That was a vision…" Alice said.

"Call Edward," I ordered my body suddenly filled with energy.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Bella asked.

"James has decided he's done waiting for a taste of your blood," I said simply packing suitcases.

"What?" Bella's voice was broken.

"Rikki," Alice said and I knew Edward was on the phone for me.

"You know him better than anyone right now. What would he be thinking?" Edward asked before I had time to answer.

"He'll be thinking you'd be too stupid to take her to Arizona, but he'll think that you'll also be too stupid to go with her. He'll be expecting you to try and lead him astray so he'll follow someone other than you to find Bella. His tracking senses aren't as good as the books depicted. Have Jacob take her scent to the Canadian border, it'll throw him off long enough to get her somewhere safe," I said.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Edward asked.

"We've got a cabin near Mount Rainier," Alice suggested.

I saw the images Alice sent me, it definitely didn't match her vision, "That could work," Edward said.

"Meet us in Seattle. Alice will come home to make it look like we're none the wiser to his plans. If something happens and James doesn't follow the wolves we'll go to the cabin," I said.

"Why is everyone freaking out? It's not like we aren't prepared for this," Bella said.

"Your dad isn't expecting you back until tomorrow night. That gives James plenty of time to act. Bella, you're still human, you're vulnerable," I said as Alice packed bags onto a dolly to take down to her car.

"Well others have escaped James' games before right?" Bella said.

"Alice was in a secured facility and the vampire that turned her sacrificed himself to keep her safe. We don't have three days to keep you safe Bella. If James can get a hold of you in the first two days of the change there's still blood in your body, he can drain you dry," I couldn't believe how serious my tone had become.

Her phone rang then, "Jake?" she answered and then shoved the phone in my direction.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? He'll kill her with your plans!" Jacob's voice screamed in my ear.

"Thanks for your trust. You have to trust me to keep her safe Jake," I said.

"You're letting Edward watch her right?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, he should be on his way up now," I said.

"Then come home and help us kill this bastard," Jacob said.

"Careful Jake, I might get the wrong idea that you care," I replied.

"I do care," was all he said.

Had Bella been right? Did he really look at me in a way that suggested he'd found someone new for his affection. And was that someone me? "I'll be fine Jake; it's just one nasty bloodsucker."

"Promise me that if it comes down to your or Cullen, you'll get your ass out of there," he said.

"Bella is the priority right now, Jake," I said.

"Promise me Rikki," he left no room for negotiation.

"Fine Jake, I promise," I said and I hung up and handed the phone back to Bella.

"I told you that he had feelings for you," Bella said.

_No he's just that good an actor,_ I thought. But it hurt. He was using me to try and get to the girl he really loved and I was caught in the crossfire. What happened if I fell for his act? "It's just the near death situation…No one wants to see me go through it again…" I said.

It was then that Edward arrived. Bella was overly thrilled and I just felt like curling into the nearest corner of the room and crying. _Why are you letting Black do this to you?_ Edward's thoughts growled at me.

_I'm not letting him do anything to me._ I shot back.

_Oh please. Don't bullshit me; I can hear your thoughts easier than you can hear mine. And you're right, he's just that good an actor that he's got you pulled in._ Edward's thoughts took on a sympathetic tone now.

_Oh like you care! As long as you get Bella and don't have to deal with Jacob's input…_

_What if I did care? Rikki, you may not be my favorite person but I don't want to see you hurt._

**Sunday - August 5, 2012**

It was four thirty in the morning when Alice called saying that Seth had taken a beating in the fight with James and Victoria and that they were coming to Seattle for Bella. Not only did James seem more motivated that Edward hadn't met him face on but he was intrigued that he'd be able to kill the only member of a new supernatural species that he'd helped create.

We'd left for the cabin seconds after we'd talked to Alice. Luckily I was fast enough on my paws that humans couldn't see us because we had to go through plenty of cities and a car wouldn't have been fast enough.

I could feel Bella clinging tightly to my fur as the wind ripped past her. Edward had said he was more comfortable carrying her but she was tired and my back was larger. Plus it was somehow a cold August morning and my fur was a whole lot warmer than Edward's vampire arms.

_She's fine, Edward. She's stronger than she looks._

_The only reason I agreed to letting her ride on your back was because she was cold._

_And she's warm in my fur so calm down. Between the two of us James doesn't stand a chance. And Victoria will take the chance to get revenge later just to allow her to live another day._

_How can you be sure?_

_Edward, really I lived with them for a couple weeks. I'm more tuned into their thoughts than the wolves'._

_Okay, the cabin is just over this ridge._

When we reached the top of the ridge I slowed down so that Bella could catch her breath before we went into the cabin. But when I saw the cabin I stopped dead. _Who else could be at this cabin?_

_No one but our family knows it's even here._

_Then why is there a fire burning in the fireplace?_

I growled then as I recognized James' scent. Edward's phone rang then and I knew right away it was Alice. I could almost see her new vision from this distance._ Edward's body lying in pieces, Bella dead and my fight to the death with James. _So much for my promise to Jacob.

James was good at this game. But he wasn't going to get Bella that easily. If Edward died I'd get Bella out of here and I'd turn her into a shape shifter like myself somehow. She would live. Edward nodded at me and I knew he'd seen my plan form as it did. I thought I heard him say that I was his second favorite person in the world right now but I must have imagined it because his hate for James was the only thing left in his head.

He helped Bella off my back and I charged forward knowing he'd protect her with his life.

"Come to die Rikki?" James asked as I reached the cabin. I snarled at him baring my wolf fangs. "You knew from the beginning it was my intention to kill her. If you hated it that much why didn't you kill me while you had more strength? You're not a newborn anymore," his smile made my stomach turn and I saw his thoughts slide to a version of my death he saw. One bit as all he thought it would take. He thought I was one of the wolves.

I smiled my wolfish grin at him and lifted a paw daring him to bite me. I knew it wouldn't affect me anymore and in seeing my confidence his confidence wavered. But there was still something that bothered me. James was here but where was Victoria?

"She's the one that hurt that little wolf friend of yours," James said guessing at my thoughts, "I've been waiting here for that plan to fail. You really think I wouldn't have done my research on the Cullens before I even turned you and your friends?"

I shifted back. I wanted to talk with him face to face before I felt his body in my teeth. "Where is she?" I growled the wolf still in my voice.

"Please, this game was only fun if Edward would come after me in the end. But now it looks as if you'll be the one to live through it all and I know you'd come after me for a bit for killing Bella, I mean she's your friend and you have power. But Victoria and I can take you out easy after Bella and Edward are gone, so I needed to fuel your rage," James said.

"You're going to die today James. I hope you know that," I growled pulling the change in my mind.

"She's going to take out your precious wolf and his father," James said and his mind flashed with images of Jacob and Billy.

The change exploded from me, there was rage that filled my body more than I'd ever felt, "You die now!" I lunged at his throat hoping to tear his head only to be thrown backward. He was strong and he was calm.

_Get protection on those wolves or I will never forgive you, and neither will Bella._ My thoughts screamed for Edward as I lunged again at James.

"Oh this is a fun game!" James called to me as I hit the ground a good hundred yards from him. I tried to calm the rage inside me so that I could focus on removing his head from his body but Jacob had burned something deep in me and I couldn't stand by and let this bloodsucker taunt me with him.

I growled once more lunging for him only to see Edward rush forward distracting James just long enough for me to get my teeth around his arm. I ripped his arm from his body feeling a sudden blood thirst enter my mind. I pushed it away as I went for one of his legs.

Edward and I were a great team. Before long James lay in pieces and with the fire burning in the house it was easy to say good bye to the menace for good. But I knew it wasn't over yet. Victoria was still out there and I didn't know if Jacob was okay, or Billy or Seth for that matter. I sent my apologies to Edward and raced off toward home running faster than I'd ever run before. This would be over today.

**A/N: So this has been the longest chapter so far. Hope you guys enjoyed it. So what do you guys think of how Jacob's acting? Is he really into her or is it all just a really good act? I haven't decided yet but I needed to leave it open to the possibility because where as I like Renesmee I also like the idea that Jacob doesn't have to hurt while he waits for her (if she ever comes that is). Review please!**


	17. Book Fifteen

**Book Fifteen: Rikki's Pain**

**Sunday – August 5, 2012**

I ran my body out of breath and my paws on fire. Edward was right, I was infected with Jacob but I couldn't just let innocent people die because James wanted to play a game.

_Jake, please still be alive._ I prayed silently as I reached the Cascade Mountains. It was taking me too long. James would have contacted her by now if I were dead and told her there was no need to kill them. I couldn't her do that. I couldn't let her kill Jacob; I couldn't let her kill Billy.

When I reached the treaty line I could smell her stench. And there was wolf blood in the air. _Jake,_ I thought hurrying forward. I shifted back when I reached Billy's house. By its smell it was empty. But there wasn't a smell of blood in this area either.

"Rikki! Oh god, what happened out there?" it was Embry that called to me.

"Killed a vampire. Why? Where's Jake?" I asked.

"Calm down, he's fine. But Seth's not doing so good," Embry said and then I remembered what Alice had said. Victoria had gotten to one of the wolves.

"Where is he?" I asked but Embry was already leading the way to Sam's.

I could smell it well already. The poison in the blood, in the wolf blood. Seth was sprawled out on a bed in the back, his body seizing uncontrollably. My stomach was in my throat. Why was he allowed out? They had plenty of wolves and I knew Sam had taken out a patrol with Jacob.

I felt Jacob's hands on my shoulders and realized that my knees felt weak. I was a terrible pack member, abandoning my brothers and sister to protect a human that didn't even want to live. "It's not your fault," Jacob said.

Leah's head snapped up from beside Seth then and she glared at Jacob. He was right. It wasn't my fault, it was his. He was Seth's alpha. If he'd ordered Seth to stay behind he'd live through this.

I pushed away from him then to stand with Emily by Leah. "It may not be my fault that he's dying but it was my fault that one of you would have ended up here," I said.

"She could have bitten anyone," Leah said, "Plenty of us would have taken it to see him live another day."

"Exactly. I was the one that suggested you lead them away from the area. If I hadn't suggested it…" I didn't know how to continue.

"You did what you had to," Emily said.

"She'll pay for this," Leah said.

"We'll get her for it after we've had time to grieve," I said, "I almost lost my head out there today because I acted on anger. I'm not going to watch you do that to yourself."

The room went silent as another seizing fit overtook Seth's body. I wished so strongly that I knew how to make more of my kind in this moment. I wanted Seth's suffering to end, but I wanted him to live, to get a chance at love with some girl.

"I'll be okay," Seth said weakly, "I'm strong." But even as the words escaped his lips I could feel his life ebbing away from his body. Another seizing fit shook his body and I could feel the burning in his bones so vividly it brought me back to my own change into what I was now. My body had been pushing the venom from my body, ridding me of the infection and that was exactly what his body was trying to do. But he needed to be cooled down for it to work.

And by the time I found my voice to tell this to someone Seth had breathed his last breath. "I'll see you again someday my friend," I whispered slipping out the back door and into the afternoon sun.

"Why did you almost lose your head out there today?" Jacob's voice came from behind me.

I wiped the few tears from my face but remained silent. I needed to think.

"Would you answer me?" Jacob asked his voice a hair angrier.

"Are you speaking as my alpha or a friend?" I growled back.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked.

_You have_, I thought but turned to stalk off. He caught my arm before I could walk more than three paces away. "Can I just be alone?"

"I don't want to give you an alpha order, Rikki but I want to know what happened out there," Jacob said.

"I don't have to obey your orders anyway! I'm not one of you!" I growled yanking my arm free and walking down toward the beach.

It was a long moment before I heard Jacob's feet crunching down the beach toward me. I should have known it would take more to make him give up. What I didn't expect was his lips against mine before another word was exchanged. The only other time he'd kissed me when Bella wasn't around was the first time we'd ever kissed. The kisses had never been like this, passionate, unyielding and I could feel myself bending to his will.

I pulled away quickly, "NO! Stop it! This isn't right," Edward's words kept running through my mind. _Why do you let him do this to you?_ I let him do it to me because I felt wanted, because it felt good to be wanted. But it was all a lie.

"Maybe I've changed my mind," Jacob's voice sounded strongly hurt.

"Bull. Shit. Jake," I spun on him, "Bull. Shit."

"You don't believe me? You can hear my thoughts right? See if I'm lying!" he challenged. But as deep as I could dig I didn't trust him. He'd kissed me every time before now to make Bella jealous and he'd started hurting me in the process. But there was the voice at the back of his head that clearly stated that with me he could at least pretend that Bella was just like any other girl. He could at least pretend while he was kissing me that the pain was gone. He didn't have to pretend that when he kissed me it didn't hurt anymore.

"Do you even know what you're doing to me?" I asked letting my tears run down my cheeks, "You'll eventually imprint on someone and I'll be left here alone _AGAIN_! This was supposed to all be some way to get Bella jealous. Well news flash it worked but not in the way you wanted! She just misses spending time with you because you supposedly spend all your time with me! Do you know I almost got killed today because someone threatened that harm would come to you? It shouldn't be that way! I shouldn't lose the ability to fight because I _know_ you can take care of yourself! But I let it get to me, Jake!"

He closed the distance between us and took my tearstained cheek in his hand and kissed me again, but this one was light. It was almost a good bye. But he was proving something. He was letting every barrier in his mind down so that I could see exactly how he felt when he kissed me. There was no pain, just joy and honest happiness. It was like Sam with Emily. He had forced himself to feel like the love imprints brought on. I didn't pull away this time though because I knew it would be the last kiss he got from me and I just couldn't find it in my heart to take that away from him. _I love you._ There were my death words. It wasn't like how he felt for Bella – that was 'I'm in love with you' this was just plain and simple 'I love you' no question in his thoughts.

When he finally let me go I crumbled to my knees. "Why are you doing this to me Jake? Why are you turning me into Leah?" I asked.

"You don't even know if Bella will have a kid, and if she does you can't guarantee that I'll imprint on it if it even turns out to be a daughter," Jacob replied.

"I can't do this Jake, I'm sorry," I couldn't hold back my shift any longer as I raced off the reservation to the old cabin that I'd lived in with Valkyrie and Lara.

When I got there it was empty. Of course it was empty. They'd moved into a house close by the Cullens. I shifted back and walked in to my old room. It was musty but still had my slightly wolfish smell. I cried some more wishing that everything since the crash had just been a personal hell I'd had to live in until my soul had been cleansed to enter heaven.

"Why are you crying?" Laurent's voice startled me. His eyes were golden; he must have left James and Victoria's alliance a couple weeks ago.

"Life sucks," I replied trying to force a smile on my face.

"You are very special Rikki," he said patting my head lightly. He was almost a father figure to me now.

"That's not what sucks. I love being able to be anything I want, but it's lonely. And my mind reading hasn't gone away which makes everything suck that much worse," I sighed, "It's giving me a migraine."

Laurent laughed lightly, "It's a boy, yes?"

"Not just any boy… It's the Black boy," I replied.

"The Bella obsessed one?" Laurent asked.

"Try Rikki obsessed. He just tried to convince me that he'd manage to force an imprint. On me. Not Bella, me," I sighed again as my stomach growled.

"Maybe a quick cougar hunt will cheer you up," Laurent suggested.

"I prefer venison," I laughed but joined him outside. As we raced through the trees I felt a bit of my old self returning as I listened to the wind in the trees. I wondered if the wolf pack that had brought back my soul still camped in these woods but found my hunting instincts take over the second the wind blew the scent of a group of deer to my nose.

A few heartbeats later I'd taken out a buck and Laurent had a doe. When I'd filled myself up I wandered over to a nearby river and washed down the blood still in my mouth before returning to my human form.

"Feel better?" Laurent asked.

"My stomach and head do…the boy issue is still a loose end," I grumbled.

"So take some time away. You can look like whatever you want. Spend some time in the ocean, hunt like a shark. Spend some time in Africa and hunt like a lion. You're still very young and you need time to find yourself," he said draping an arm over my shoulders, "Stick with me kid, we'll go places."

He always did know how to make me laugh. "And here was me thinking, for a twenty-year-old, I knew who I was and what I wanted," I took a deep breath in smelling the woods and river around me, "Thanks for setting me straight Miyagi."

"I haven't taught you karate," Laurent laughed, "Actually I don't know karate."

"Don't sweat it; it's a reference you just wouldn't get. It's after your time after all," I laughed.

"Well, I'll come with you wherever you want to go," he offered.

"I would love to swim the Great Barrier Reef in Australia," I said, "But…"

"We can be gone for two weeks and no one will miss you. The Black kid will get over it in three seconds when he sees Bella alive anyway," Laurent said.

"Okay," I said, "Let's go."

**A/N: Please don't send me hate mail for killing Seth. I didn't want to, it's where the story went and unfortunately I am a slave to the story. Who likes daddy figure Laurent? He's awesome right? So maybe the story will be nice and decide he does't team up with Victoria like he does in the books. I mean he's off with Rikki in Australia now right?**


	18. Book Sixteen

**Book Sixteen: Rikki Returns**

**Friday – September 7, 2012**

It'd been a month since I'd seen Forks and I had to say I was glad to be back. Laurent had come with me to Australia for a week and then he'd gone up to Alaska to talk with the Denali coven. I'd been all over the world in that time. After Australia I'd gone to Japan and after that China. After China I'd gone to Greece and uncovered a treasure or two so I was kinda rich now. But after Greece I'd gone to England and guest stared in a couple television shows they had there, including an episode of one of my favorites: Dr. Who. More money for me I guess. But after England I'd gone to Russia hoping learning the strange language would be more interesting than the drama that waited for me back home.

Now I was looking out of the puddle jumper window, gladder than ever to be back home with the friends that had become my family. A yellow Porsche was waiting at the airport for me when I landed. Alice. At least I dressed better than when she'd taken me shopping a month ago.

"I was wondering when we'd see your face around here again," she said giving me a warm hug.

"And you didn't even know it was me when I stepped off the plane wearing Gucci right?" I laughed.

"I heard about the treasure find in Greece. How'd you do it?" she asked.

"It helps when you're a fish that can talk to other fish, but big enough to scare off divers," I laughed.

"Great White?" she asked seeing the mischievous glint in my eyes.

"Did you know that the average Great White Shark _can't_ grow up to 300 feet long?" I laughed.

She giggled, "You must have looked like a monster."

"I still feel like I'm spitting out extra teeth half the time though," I complained on our drive back.

"You made it just in time for Bella's birthday bash," Alice mused.

"I know, I did that on purpose. Plus I got the cutest birthday party dress, and an equally cute present for Bella," I said.

"You seem better than the last time I saw you," she said.

"I got time away from the Forks drama of shape shifting wolves, vampires and inter species relationships," I laughed.

"Ya I can understand that," she laughed.

"You probably don't know…" I paused.

"He's doing fine. Went right back to obsessing over Bella like it was his job to get her to love him more than Edward. I don't envy him," Alice said.

"So Edward was right?" I felt my gut twist.

"No, he was a broken man for the first couple of days and then Bella went over to cheer him up and made the mistake of kissing him. The boy's hormones are what drive him, Rikki. Anything he said to make you leave was good for everyone, no matter what my brother says," she assured me.

"Thanks for that Alice, it really made that whole trip worth it. I just hope I'm not dying for another one by the end of the day," I commented as she pulled up in front of the Cullen abode.

"Esme wanted to cook for you so dinner should be ready for you and Bella any minute," she said grabbing my suitcase.

I sighed but followed her in anyway. Sure enough the smell of cooking food had filled the house. I just hoped that Bella and I would be eating alone so that I didn't have eyes on me as I stuffed my face. The flight from Russia was long and I was beginning to feel the time-zone jet-lag.

It was then that I heard Bella's noisy truck pull in behind Alice's nice Porsche. I could see Edward's thoughts all over the dress Alice had asked her to wear. I guess he was just a hormone rage too, I laughed inwardly as he realized I was listening in.

"Happy Birthday," I said when Bella walked through the door.

"It is not my birthday yet," she grumbled.

"Oh please," I laughed, "He looks nineteen, eighteen is nothing to get your panties in a twist about."

"It's good to see you again though," she said wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

"At least I was able to give you another birthday," I said returning her hug.

"Dinner is ready!" Esme called from somewhere upstairs. I hadn't seen much of their house before as I'd 'died' in a downstairs bathroom and hadn't been back until now.

The dining room was filled with food. She must have been cooking for two days. And suddenly I wondered who she expected to eat all this food. Bella practically had an eating disorder and I wasn't _that_ hungry.

"Hey Rikki's back!" I heard Lara howl as I stared at the food.

Before I knew it I was being glomped from both sides by Valkyrie and Lara. "Nice to see you're still alive," Valkyrie laughed.

"Nice to see you still have your own eye color," I replied in the same stupid tone she'd used.

"Hey, I know you've been away for a while but be nice," Paul's voice shocked me.

"You hang around with the vamps now? Okay _now_ I've seen everything the world has to offer," I laughed.

"He imprinted on me, remember?" Valkyrie said.

"And what? You found some way not to kill him when you kiss him?" the bitter memory of Seth's death entered my mind and I felt Jasper's calming touch in my mind. I made a mental note to thank him later.

"I'm amazing," Lara said, "Say it."

"Um…okay, you're amazing…" I said, "Why am I saying this?"

"She managed to change my DNA ever so slightly so that I can't be killed by vamp venom. She tried to take away Valkyrie's venom first but it doesn't seem to work that way, her ability," Paul said.

I felt hot anger flash in my stomach, if she'd been able to do that for Paul why hadn't she tried it on Seth while he was dying? Again I felt Jasper's calming touch but pushed it away. So much for a happy welcome home. I wanted to escape again.

_She only discovered she could do that three days ago._ Edward's thoughts echoed in my mind keeping me from heading to a door. _Seth's death wasn't your fault._

The party, to Alice's liking, started off a huge success. Paul, Bella and I managed to finish off most of the food, although I'm pretty sure Paul ate over half of what _was_ eaten. And then there was a cake, large enough to feed a hundred people easily, that Alice danced out with. I even heard Paul moan in discomfort.

"I don't expect you to eat it all," Alice said glowering at Paul. At least I'd kept my discomfort to myself.

And then there were the presents…The moment of truth. Bella did manage to make it through all her presents without a single bloody mishap, and then I remembered that I had brought a gift back from Greece for her. And that's where things went downhill.

When she went to open my simple cardboard box, not even taped shut she had to slide her fingers between the lid and the bottom. And that was how she cut her finger. Jasper was quicker than I'd imagined and it was like a feeding frenzy that I'd been part of back as a shark.

Before a whole minute had passed it was over and I could hear Edward as clearly as I could hear the plinking of glass coming out of Bella's arm. _I have to leave. That's what's best for her._

I stalked over to him when the ringing in my ears had finally died down and grabbed him by the shirt collar, "I left to escape the drama of the books as it was becoming imposed on my life. If you dare leave her I will hunt you down." Paul pulled me off of Edward telling me to cool down but I knew that I hadn't changed Edward's mind and he knew I'd stay to keep Bella safe if he left. "Dumb ass," I growled.

**Monday – October 1, 2012**

Edward had left almost a month ago and I was stuck, alone, at the Cullen's house with Bella. She was beyond broken and I hated Edward for it. Valkyrie and Paul would come around every couple of days with food because if I left Bella alone for too long she did something stupid like pick up a kitchen knife and look like she was going to kill herself, or someone else.

Jacob had come by a couple of times to sit with her while I did some searching for where the Cullens would have disappeared to. He didn't want Edward to come back, or rather he half didn't want that. Ever since my return he'd been a mess himself trying to figure out if it was Bella or me that he wanted. I'd tried to use the excuse that losing Seth at such a young age was still too close for me to feel anything for anyone but it was only half true.

**Thursday – October 11, 2012**

I woke up with the sun today. It was my birthday and my heart was still beating to remind me. Bella was starting to return to her normal self when Jacob and I took her out with a motorcycle. But she was still a shell of her former self.

It was then that I smelled wolves nearby and I hopped up out of bed to find out what was going on. Paul was coming up the front steps with Valkyrie, Lara and Dante. "What's going on?" I asked.

"We spotted a bloodsucker running around the territory. We can't place the scent but it smells familiar," Paul said and suddenly I realized Jacob was standing beside me.

"Want to go on a patrol for old time's sake?" Jacob asked me.

I hadn't shifted into a wolf since the day Seth died. I wasn't sure if I was ready to be part of the pack again. But it was my birthday and I was starting to feel my old self come back and I was lying to myself if I said my spirit wasn't a wolf. "Lara, Valkyrie can you stay with Bella?" I asked.

"What about me?" Dante asked.

"You can come on patrol with us Mr. Shadows," I laughed.

I watched as Lara and Valkyrie kissed their men good-bye and walk into the house before I followed Jacob and Paul out into the woods. Because of Dante's shadow manipulation he could turn into a wolf like the rest of us, even if he did look more demonic but I was glad to be in a sort of pack again and to feel the ground with a set of paws. I let my fur ruffle in the breeze for a long moment as the wind sang me the best of happy birthdays I'd ever heard before setting out after Paul and the others.

I felt like a young filly as I ran through the trees and noticed Jacob laughing. We were supposed to be patrolling for any signs of danger for Bella, not frolicking in the woods. _What?_ I growled, _It's not like I'm not allowed to enjoy myself. After all how often does one turn twenty?_

_Happy Birthday airhead,_ Paul laughed.

_Ya, Rikki. Just keep focused will you?_ Jacob growled.

_You asked me to come. I could easily turn…_ I stopped mid stride and sniffed the air. I knew that smell. I didn't like the way it smelled either.

_That's the stench of the bloodsucker I caught around here earlier._ Paul growled.

_No, it can't be…_ I sniffed the air again; he was heading toward the Cullen's house.

Jacob looked at me, knowing in his eyes, _If you can't do this stay here. We can take care of it easily._

But I needed to know for sure so I lead the way back being faster than the others. And sure enough standing by the back porch was exactly who I thought it'd be. Laurent. But his eyes were red. He'd been feeding on humans again._ No…_

"I thought you'd travel the world a bit more before coming back. I was surprised to catch your scent so strong around the house," his tone was mocking. Something had changed in him but he was still my most trusted mentor.

I shifted back, "Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"Victoria deserves revenge. You didn't tell me that you'd killed James so brutally. He may have deserved his fate but to make him suffer like that?" Laurent asked his tone a menace.

"He was trying to take everything that I cared about at the time. I don't regret my actions," I replied hurt.

"You should," Laurent growled, "You can't protect this human forever. Victoria already knows the weakness of the wolves. She killed one already with just a simple graze of her teeth."

Rage boiled in me, "You. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Talk. About. Seth."

"Oh was that the boy's name? The stupid one who tried to appeal to her good nature? The one that tried to bargain with her to save James' life?" Laurent asked.

"You will suffer the same fate as James," my words felt cold and lifeless on my lips as I turned my back and Jacob ripped my mentor's head from his body. "Good-bye my old friend."

I wandered up the stairs of the house into the room that had become Bella's. Lara and Valkyrie looked as if they'd seen everything. "Rikki, it'll be okay…" Lara said.

"Bella, we're going to Italy," I said.

**A/N: Volturi anyone? I'm so glad that my inspiration fairy is back, but all these depressing chapters is making me want to do something happy...when it comes around. Hopefully it'll come around soon right?**


	19. Book Seventeen

**Book Seventeen: Rikki and the Volturi**

**Saturday – October 13, 2012**

We were in no hurry when we got off the plane. Edward wouldn't be in the area since he didn't want to die yet. But I was sure someone would get a hold of him when Alice saw that we'd decided to speak with the Volturi. I was holding off on it saying that this was a vacation.

"So did you rent a car?" Lara asked, "Or are we pulling an Alice?"

"She's already got her Porsche. But Bella now knows how to ride a motorcycle, I say we go rent a couple and see the countryside," I said.

"I'm not all that good on a bike," Bella admitted.

"Ya, but Dante, Paul and I are. Besides I only want to spend money on three rentals. You just have to balance and hold onto me for dear life," I replied.

Lara and Valkyrie had wanted to come and Paul and Dante wouldn't leave their sides so our outing of two became an outing of six. "Remind me why we had to come to Italy to have a weekend away," Paul grumbled.

"_You_ didn't. I wanted to and Bella here is suicidal," I growled though I had to give Bella credit, being out of Forks was actually brightening her mood.

"Can we get some gelato while we're here?" Lara asked.

"You can't eat gelato," I laughed.

"I can imagine it though. Come on Rikki, please!" Lara pleaded.

"Okay fine we can find a gelato shop," I laughed.

On a ride through the countryside I saw Bella's face fill with delight and after a bowl of gelato she was ready to take on the world again. "So… how do you think Jake is? I mean he got left behind and everything," Bella said as we stopped into an art museum.

"I think he'll be fine. This trip was for you and me because we needed to be out of Forks. And I think it did the trick," I laughed.

"Ya, it did the trick. I almost don't miss Edward anymore," she said and we all stared at her. It was the first time she'd mentioned his name without a knife in her hand. "What?" she asked.

"You think she got laced gelato?" Lara asked me.

"Laced with what? Happiness? She honestly looks like his disappearance isn't anything anymore. That's what we were going for," I said.

"Ya, I suppose," Lara said.

"Well shall we go check out some shopping spots?" I asked.

I loved Italian Leather and so I didn't notice when a group of strangers approached us in an Armani store. "Which one of you is Isabella Swan?"

Shit. I turned around to spot two men, dressed all in black. And a small red-eyed girl. "Who's asking?" I asked.

"The shape shifter should shut her mouth," the small girl growled.

"Jane right? Your bark sounds a lot worse than your bite," I snapped back, "What do you want with Bella?"

"Aro wants to talk with her," Jane said shooting a glare in my direction.

"And we're not in Volterra, therefore not in his territory. You have no power over a human or a race that doesn't wield to a master," I growled.

"You should learn to shut your mouth girl," one of the large men behind Jane snapped.

"Who's gonna make me?" I growled back, "You can't lay a finger on me and you know it."

Jane's head snapped from her gaze on Bella to rest on me and I could see she was attempting to use her power on me. "How about we take you all in?" she said and I noticed the courtyard outside the shop was filled with vampires dressed in black.

Suddenly I wished I hadn't picked a vacation spot so close to Volterra.

**Sunday – October 14, 2012**

Bella and I had been escorted to Volterra the day before and there had been a feeding planned so we'd been locked in a dungeon-like room for 'our own protection.' I scoffed at the thought that they thought I couldn't handle myself in a room full of feeding vampires.

"Why did we have to vacation in Italy? Greece wasn't that far off and at least people there wouldn't have locked us in a cage," Bella grumbled beside me. Paul was in a cage not too far off, stuck as a wolf with all the vampires around, he was thinking the same thing.

"I hadn't thought it through totally because I wanted to be able to run to the Volturi if the trip hadn't cheered you up which would have made Edward come running," I replied.

"You were going to ask them to turn me?" her voice was a squeak.

"More or less," I shrugged.

"And you couldn't have shared this with me because?" she growled.

"It had to be a last minute decision," I replied, "And then Paul decided last minute to come and I couldn't mention it with him around… And when I saw you cheering up I was ready to go shopping a bit and hop on a plane last night and go home. No such luck now." Bella's phone rang and after looking at the caller ID she handed it to me, "Hello?"

"What in the hell were you thinking?" Alice's voice.

"Vacation," I replied.

"Were you trying to get Edward to come back?" she asked.

"Kind of…" I said.

"God Rikki you're an idiot. You could have called him and told him to come back, you know that right?" Alice growled.

"I told him not to leave last month and he did that anyway! What was I supposed to do Alice? She was suicidal!" I growled back into the phone.

"So you're helping her die?" Alice growled back.

"They're not going to kill her. Aro wants to see if the books were right, and he's apparently beyond interested in me…" I looked up as Jane walked in, "Do. Something."

"What do you want me to do?" Alice asked but I had to hang up the phone as Jane was leading us into the Volturi's feeding room. So they thought this was going to get violent.

"I'm so sorry Bella," I said as the doors closed behind us.

My head hurt being in the room full of vampires and I was thankful for the very human scent of Bella beside me until I was forcibly drug away. "So you're the mighty one that caused such a stir in our world," the voice was tinged with insanity so I figured it had to be Aro.

"The one and only," I growled over the hand around my throat.

"I've so looked forward to meeting you," Aro said, "Would you be so kind as to demonstrate your power for us?"

I thought about refusing and then simply said, "If you get the rock off my throat I'd be happy to." Aro nodded to whomever had been holding and I let the shift take me over as slowly as possible relishing the sound of my growing and breaking bones. It didn't hurt but it sure as hell sounded like it did. When I'd finished growing the fur out of my wolf body I turned my gaze on Aro. He clapped happily and laughed insanely.

"Can you do anything else?" He asked.

I thought about the many shifts that I'd made in my travels and traded my fur for feathers and talons instead of claws. I thought Italian natives would appreciate a majestic hawk. Sure enough Aro was clapping furiously again. I shifted back to my human form, "Satisfied?" I growled.

"Oh, we have a feisty one," Aro said.

"I'm still confused as to why we were thrown in a cage and why our presence was requested at all," I replied.

"Well when I heard that the shape shifter and the human Bella had arrived in Italy a few kilometers from our home here in Volterra I wanted to meet you and see if the rumors were true. I do apologize for the cage but it was the best way to protect you from our feeding habits," Aro said.

"And after my demonstration do you finally believe that I could handle myself?" I asked.

"Oh I had no doubt about you handling yourself, your wolf friend either. I was worried that if something happened and you got bitten that we'd lose the magic of your new breed," he said.

"Well my wolf friend is immune and I was a vampire before I became this so I don't see why there would be a problem," I growled. I was growing impatient.

"Can you make others of your kind?" Aro asked.

"I'm supposed to be able to but I have no idea how," I replied. I heard scuffling outside the room and the doors opened just briefly enough to allow in a young man, he smelled human, "What is this?" I asked.

"This is Rick," Aro said, "He's our experiment. I'd like you to turn him."

"I just told you I have no idea how to do that," I replied there were vampires closing in around Bella now.

"That's why we asked Bella to join us," he paused as two of the vampires grabbed Bella by the arms, "If you can't turn Rick, Bella will die."

I stared in disbelief at Aro, "You're not even going to give me the time to do some research to find out how I turned first?"

"How difficult could it be to turn someone? To become a vampire all you need is one bite. To become a werewolf there was only one bite," Aro said.

"Vampirism and Lycanthropy are infections though. My change was DNA deep. I change on a molecular level, for all I know he may need a transfusion of my blood!" Edward was going to kill me.

"Well we can provide you with the tools to do that as well," Aro replied.

"It took me two weeks to go from a vampire to this, what if it takes him longer to show signs that he's changed?" I asked.

"Enough excuses," Aro growled in a voice that shook the room, "You can try. If nothing works we will give you a lab to do research. Until then you will work on the proven methods."

I looked back at Bella who surprisingly didn't have a look of terror on her face that I'm sure I wore. She'd been ready to die multiple times in the last month, but to die this close to possibly seeing Edward again? How could she bear that? She nodded me on which managed to give me enough courage to cross the room to Rick.

"I'm sorry for this," I said when I saw his horror stricken face. But I turned his face away from me and let my wolf fangs grow through my jaw before sinking them into his shoulder. Human blood was not in any way appetizing and I felt myself gag when his blood was released into my mouth. Then his screams filled my ears along with Aro's insane laughter.

Another vampire rushed to stop his bleeding as if what I'd done was going to kill him before we could figure out if it had turned him. And when his screams died down I turned back to Aro, "Now we wait to see if it worked."

"Can I at least have something to wash the taste of human out of my mouth?" I growled.

"After we get some of your blood. If this doesn't work I'm going to give him a transfusion," Aro said growing serious.

I complied and let a human that they employed take a pint of my blood before they lead Bella and I back to our cage. "I'm never coming back to Italy," I grumbled sitting against the wall, "I'm still waiting for a glass of water or something!" I growled.

A woman appeared quickly with a bottle of water and I rinsed the blood from my mouth before drinking the rest of the bottle.

"You should have just let him kill me," Bella said.

"Should I just have let James kill you too?" I growled back.

She was silent for a long moment before she asked, "Why did you leave Jacob?"

I stared at her for a long moment before I said simply, "It felt like a lie. Every time he kissed me he was thinking about you. The only reason I'd even started 'seeing' him was because he wanted to make you jealous and I couldn't let him stop fighting for you. And then he supposedly developed actual feelings for me, or I developed feelings for him or something….it was just a mess."

"He was a mess when you left," she said simply.

"You mean kind of like how you were suicidal when Edward left?" I barked back.

Paul somewhere beside us growled. _No Rikki, he really was a mess. The only thing that kept him going was when Bella kissed him and told him that she still loved him._

"You're no help Paul," I growled.

"I think he did love you," Bella said.

"That was the problem," I said, "You've seen Leah. How messed up she is after what happened between Sam and Emily. I didn't want that to happen to me when Renesmee came along."

"What if she doesn't though?" Bella asked.

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I replied.

**A/N:** **Okay so ya here's the Volturi. I know that it sucks I keep bringing up sad things but the next chapter will be a Bella-Edward reunion so HAPPY stuff is coming! YAY!**


	20. Book Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen: Rikki and the Escape**

**Monday – October 15, 2012**

Bella and I were back in our cage all night long. I seemed to be more worried than she was about the outcome of the experiment. On top of everything else I barely managed any sleep and I hadn't slept since we'd gotten here three days ago.

_The guard members I'd come to know as Felix and Dimitri stood at the opening of my cage. Bella had fallen fast asleep next to me and Paul was asleep in his cage as well. "You can come quietly or we can do this the hard way," Felix said._

"_I'm not sure you want me to test my strength in my human form boys. Just let us sleep," I said back utterly exhausted._

"_The hard way it is," Felix replied opening the cage gate. I could see their thoughts easily. Aro wanted to test the gestation period of another shape shifter. I was so not letting that pig Rick touch me and they knew it. But I was too tired to fight the guard members and let them drag me away. Oh how I wished I could shift myself into a brick of lead._

_I was locked in a room that felt like a cage but was white and fluffy in color. It disgusted me that they would put a bed in a torture chamber. But I grabbed a pillow off the bed and crawled under it hoping it would provide some minor sleep._

"_Oh so you think you can hide?" Rick's voice was no longer scared as he entered the room. I could smell it on him. Something I had done worked. He was like me now._

"_What worked?" I asked, "The bite or the blood? Because I'd love to bite you again," I growled from under the bed._

_He peered under the frame at me. He'd gotten bigger and now I was glad for my smaller frame. With how big the bed was he couldn't reach me, unless he realized that he was obviously strong enough to move the oak frame from above me. "The blood transfusion," he growled back, his smile was of jagged sharp teeth and I knew he hadn't learned to control his shifts yet._

"_Damn…Oh well I suppose that I can bite you again anyway," I growled in response._

"_You think you're such a kitten don't you?" he asked thinking I was trying to be kinky not that I seriously wanted to rip his head off._

"_Meow," I replied shifting into a small housecat._

"_So cute. You know two can play at that game," Rick purred._

_I shifted back, "Ya I'm sure two can, but you haven't learned to control that shift of yours yet which is made obvious by your fangs," I growled letting my eyes glow yellow as they sometimes did while I was a wolf._

"_You really are making this more difficult on yourself you know," his voice was stuck in a purr, "Women often told me, even as a human, that I was great in bed."_

"_I'm not living in a romance novel, Rick," I growled._

"_What do you think it is then, your life? If it's not a romance then what could it be?" he purred._

"_Right now I'm staring at the face of a horror villain," I snapped._

_That set him over the edge. His purr was gone, "Look, I gave you a chance. It might have been nice for you," he growled lifting the frame with a mere two fingers. I shied back out of his reach which made him angrier._

_When he threw the frame against the back wall and grabbed my ankle I screamed. "I am your maker you pig!" I growled kicking at him._

"_And you saw how well that worked out in Splice didn't you?" he snarled back grabbing at my hips._

"_Fuck you!" I spat._

"_That's what I'm trying to do," his eyes had a red tint to them as he stared down at me and I couldn't help but think I'd created a monster._

I woke with a start back in the cage with Bella. She was still asleep but Paul was awake again as if I'd shared my dream with him. _Are you okay?_ He asked.

_No… I can't help but think that dream is what Aro means to happen to me…_ I replied curling myself into a ball in the corner farthest from the gate door. I shook violently sudden cold creeping into my veins; they were seriously mistaken if they thought they could get away with having me raped. And oddly enough the one word that gave me any comfort was Seth. I didn't realize how much I missed the little scrap until now when I was facing odds that I didn't like and he was dead. I should have given him more of a chance… I suddenly realized that I was crying, but not in fear of being raped no that would be easy enough to put up with once I'd scratched a couple eyes out. No what made me cry was the thought of Seth in my time of need and knowing that he was gone.

Bella woke then and looked at me, "What's up?" she asked.

"Oh nothing…" I said forcing a smile onto my face and wiping some of the tears out of my eyes.

"Rikki, I'm a chick too. I know when there's something up it's easier to push everything away," she said.

"It's just…I don't even know… I guess it just took me this long to really grasp the concept that Seth is gone," I said.

"Oh Jake will love to hear that," Bella said.

"Oh screw him, he hurt me," I growled.

"I was trying to cheer you up," Bella replied sheepishly, "I know how intense he can be."

"Oh god Bella, I'm sorry…" I was going to continue until I saw Felix walking down the hallway. I froze wishing that I could camouflage myself into the wall and disappear.

"Aro wants to see you Shifter," he said and I searched his thoughts quickly to try and decipher Aro's plans for me, "You're wasting time you know. I don't know why he asked to see you." He wasn't lying unfortunately.

I stood and followed him out and into the same room Bella and I had been in before. Rick was standing next to the trio sporting my golden flecked eyes. I felt a shiver creep up my spine when he looked at me; there was definitely lust in his eyes. "I see something I did worked," I commented keeping my voice cool.

"The blood transfusion. It had me worried for a while though. He had no heartbeat for a good three hours," Aro replied his voice just as cool but it still had the insanity underneath.

"So it killed him and brought him back. Sounds familiar," I replied remembering my journey through my mind.

"We are still curious though," Aro said, the cool leaving his voice leaving nothing but insanity, "what happens when a vampire drinks your blood?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I was a vampire to start with, remember? I was dead for almost 24 hours before I came back. I bled out and all the venom keeping my body moving was forced out of my body. And this was after I'd expelled most of it already because my body at the time was mostly human. There's no telling if one of you would survive drinking my blood," I replied a slight smirk on my lips.

"Well, you've had this all planned out for a while now haven't you?" Aro laughed.

I shrugged, "Edward wanted his soul back."

"Speaking of Edward," Aro's laugh quieted, "He says we're keeping something of his. You wouldn't happen to know what he means would you, Rikki?"

With that Edward walked into the room and I had to think that Alice had talked him into saving Bella's and my asses. "I do believe you're holding Bella and I here against our will," I replied and heard snarls from around the room.

"Oh no my dear," Aro said, anger tipping his voice, "You're free to leave whenever you want." _I wasn't done with my experiments…_ His thoughts shocked me as if they were what fed my dreams.

Edward nodded at me as if he'd known what Aro's plans were as well. "I believe you're holding a wolf as well. I understand that he may have been a danger to you but I assure you I can escort him out without any problems with the help of Rikki here," Edward said giving a curt nod to Aro.

"Very well, if you all wish to leave you are free to," Aro replied.

As Edward and I walked back to the cage Bella and I were in I felt more unease creep over me. Probably because Rick had been the one to escort us back. Visions from my dream played back in my head and Edward gave me an apologetic look, as if he would have stayed if he'd known I would pull something like this.

"I told you I'd find you if you left," I said.

"Actually, I believe you told me you'd kill me if I left," Edward replied.

"Metaphorically speaking. You really think I could hurt Bella like that?" I asked.

"I didn't realize she'd be that bad," Edward said.

"You can talk when you're out of here, get moving," Rick growled behind us.

I felt claws growing out the end of my fingers. _If he lays one finger on me I'm going to rip that bastard to shreds._ I sent the thoughts to Edward so he would be ready.

_Could you wait to tear him to shreds until after we're a good distance away from the guard?_ He sent back.

_You don't have to help. I'll take my chances with the guard. You can hear his thoughts too, can't you?_ I asked.

_Unfortunately I can._ He replied giving me a nod that I had to assume meant he wished me luck.

Mere moments later Paul was above ground and back to a human-looking body and we were all breathing in fresh air. Even Rick.

"You can run back to your so-called master now," I growled at him.

"Aro asked me to accompany you home," Rick said his voice more sadistic than my dream had imagined, "Besides technically you are my master. You sired me after all."

I felt a growl ripple in my throat and I was surprised when Paul laid a hand on my shoulder to calm me. "We can deal with this later," Paul said simply and so I let Rick follow us to the airport where Lara, Valkyrie and Dante were waiting.

As we were boarding our first class jet home I turned to Rick, "I'm going to say this once, and only once. If you can't keep those thoughts of yours contained to thoughts…I will rip your throat out," I showed him the claws that I had yet to put away from my fingertips, "Do you understand?"

"Yes Ma'am," Rick replied but I could see that he'd been given direct orders from Aro that he was only to return with _our_ child. I was going to have fun tearing this dick limb from limb.

**A/N: Who hates Rick? Everybody? Awesome! Anyway I'm working on moving this weekend so I'll try and get up another two or three chapters before then. But if I don't I'll definately have more up on Monday!**


	21. Book Nineteen

**Book Nineteen: Rikki says Good-bye to Victoria**

**Wednesday – October 17, 2012**

I hoped Charlie hadn't been worried about our absence in Italy. We were supposed to have been back by Sunday night and it was now early Wednesday morning. The Sheriff was going to have my head.

"So where are you staying now?" Bella asked.

"What?" I had been staring out the window glad to be in a different vehicle than Rick.

"Well now that the Cullens are back are you going to stay with them? Or are you going back to the Reservation?" she asked.

"Oh, that…I don't know. I definitely need to stay with someone. I swear Rick was a rapist or something before the Volturi found him and he's determined not to leave my side," I grumbled.

"Well you're always welcome with us," Edward said, "Even if you do smell like a wolf."

"Oh don't even start that Mr. Cupcake," I laughed.

I ended up staying with the Cullens figuring that they didn't sleep so I'd be a bit safer with Rick around. But there was something worse than Rick waiting at the Cullen house when we finally arrived. A letter. From Victoria.

_You know I want my revenge. Let's settle this once and for all. Edward, bring Bella. If you can manage to kill me before I kill her you win. Meet me at the cabin on Mount Rainier in three days' time. I'll be waiting._

_-Victoria_

"She wants revenge for James," I said.

"She wants Bella, not revenge," Edward said.

"She's not finishing what James started, Edward. She wants revenge. Trust me. I knew her long enough to know that she wasn't the bloodthirsty type, no pun intended there. She's not after Bella for Bella, she's after her because she thinks that _you_ killed James and she wants you to hurt," I said.

"But I did," Edward said.

"I tore most of him to pieces Edward, and I was the one that threw those pieces into the fire in the cabin. I believe that makes me the one that killed him," I said.

"I can't let you go and take care of a challenge that was issued to me," Edward said.

"I'm not going to argue this point Edward. You stay here with Bella; keep her safe in case Victoria has planned something else. I'll go and take Rick with me," I shuddered at the idea.

"You really think Rick's going to have your back?" Edward asked.

"Aro will kill him if he comes back without a shifter child. Right now I'm the only female shifter, do the math Edward. I die, he gets killed. That ought to be enough inspiration for him to have my back," I said.

"Wouldn't hurt if you agreed to be my mate either," Rick purred from the doorway.

"You'll have to do _WAY_ better than that," I snarled.

"Hey I've got plenty of time. Besides, you take too long and I can always find another girl who wants to be a shifter and screw around with her," Rick replied his voice cool as stone.

"Gag me," I grumbled to Edward, "Please!"

"I think you'll be fine. He seems to be tempered well enough. I mean you did threaten to rip his throat out," Edward laughed, "If that wouldn't work on him I don't know what would."

"She'll want me sooner or later," Rick bragged.

_Maybe if I play it smart Victoria will rip his throat out for me._ I thought hoping Edward was listening.

"You'd have to play that one pretty smart. Starting with his attitude," he replied.

"I can be very convincing," I said feeling my nails slide into dagger sharp claws.

**Saturday – October 20, 2012**

I walked with Rick as the snow ruffled our fur. He was a good actor, I had to give him that, but I still felt uncomfortable as his wolf form pressed protectively against me. It disgusted me to think of him as my mate but Victoria needed to believe it or I was going to lose it and kill him myself. Over the past three days I'd been working with him to get into a comfortable mate-like air to the way we acted. Which meant I had to let him touch me…and worse it meant I had to let him kiss me. I gaged mentally at remembering the last time I'd let him kiss me, letting Edward judge if we were ready or not. He'd laughed when we'd kissed saying that our minds were so far apart in that moment that he would have thought we'd been blind and deaf to each other. I'd known what he meant. Rick had been thinking about getting in my pants and I'd been hoping that it looked at least like we were a new couple who couldn't bear to part. No such luck.

But at least now, today, he was taking his role more seriously. He almost seemed to take on a new persona as a wolf like being a mate was serious and lifelong. And yet somehow, my mind wandered again to Seth. That's why I was here in truth. Victoria had taken his life and I was going to take hers for that. I guess in a way she may have already gotten her revenge but I really needed Rick out of my life.

The cabin was in sight now and I paused taking a breath in through my nose and catching her scent coming strong from the clearing I remembered fighting James in. Rick placed his muzzle protectively over my head and whimpered lightly. He'd seen the way Seth had acted around me through my momentary lack of control. It helped a little to think of Rick more as Seth but it made me hurt all the more. If Rick thought this was going to get him lucky, he was beyond wrong.

As we padded down the hill toward the clearing I spotted Victoria's red hair. "I told Edward to bring Bella," she growled under her breath but my ears were better than that.

I shifted to my human form and Rick followed suit pulling me closer to him with an arm around my waist. "Edward didn't kill James," I said, "I figured revenge was better suited when you got to torment the one who caused you pain so here I am."

"Oh please. Am I really supposed to believe you killed James?" Victoria asked.

"I'm assuming the game still stands as I bring my mate and if I can kill you before you kill him I win, right?" Rick froze slightly by my side. Maybe he finally guessed why I worked so hard to let him near me when he knew how much I hated his touch. But to his credit he kept up the act.

"That was the game when I was dealing with a human and a vampire," Victoria growled, "Now I'm dealing with two shifters."

"I'll let you in on a little secret," I said, "Shifters can die in any way that a human can. We just heal faster."

"Very well. I'll even give you a moment to say good-bye if you'd like," Victoria responded, "After all since you actually came it seems to me that you were ready to part with each other."

It was now or never to set Victoria on her rage so I mustered up all of my courage and let Rick kiss me. I knew he didn't want to die and he knew I wanted Victoria dead for what she did to Seth so when we heard her snarl we separated and I shifted moving just as fast as she did.

"You really would let me kill your mate?" Victoria taunted.

"He's just the bait," I snarled back lunging at her.

She was good at dodging me. She slipped out of the reach of my jaws more times than I could count, but Rick was good at keeping out of her reach too. I could see the rage that drove her was the same rage that almost made me lose my own head to James.

And then it happened. Victoria got a grip on Rick's arm. I stopped dead in my tracks as she raised her lips to his arm and bit him. I knew her venom wouldn't do anything to him because as a Shifter he was immune to the disease that it was to be a vampire. But I was interested to see what would happen to her when his blood tainted her body. My wolf body grinned as she crumpled to her knees. It was causing her pain.

I shifted back and walked over letting her fall into the snow covered ground, "How does it feel?" I asked.

"You knew this would happen, you bitch!" she snarled back.

"No, actually, I didn't. But I had hoped," I smiled down at her, "And just so you know, he's not my mate. He wishes, but he's not."

"Then why did you take his place?" Victoria asked.

I bent my head down to whisper in her ear, "Because you bit my friend. And now my friend is dead." I felt my wolf claws growing from my fingers again, "That and you're the reason Laurent is dead."

Her eyes widened and I took that moment to rip straight through her throat. Rick flicked a lighter out of his jeans pocket, lit it and tossed it onto her motionless body. "You really had a grudge against this bitch didn't you?" he asked.

"It doesn't change the fact that she's the reason for half the suffering in my life," I said looking at the setting sun.

"Let me guess, I'm the other half right?" he guessed.

"Oh don't flatter yourself. You are the cause of suffering in my life but not nearly half," I laughed emotionlessly.

"What was this Seth to you?" Rick asked.

"He was a good friend," I said, "he had a crush on me and every day since his death I've regretted telling him that four years age difference was just too much for anything to work."

"Jail bait," Rick sighed.

I nodded and turned toward the cabin. I wasn't going to run back to Forks tonight. I needed time to think about what my next step was. Bella should be safe from any other harm, and if something did come along the Cullens and the wolves could easily take care of anything that came along. "Look, Rick…you can go turn someone else. Even if I liked you I wouldn't be ready for a kid," I said when he followed me in.

"I can't," Rick said, "After your blood had turned me Aro tried to use my blood to turn someone else. Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?" I asked.

"That's why Aro wants a child. I can't turn anyone else," Rick said.

"So he thinks if I have a child that the child will be able to," I said sinking into the couch in the front room.

"Precisely," Rick said.

"Well I will honestly claw you to pieces if you try anything, I hope you know that," I growled as he sat next to me just a little too close.

"Would you really send me back empty handed?" he asked.

"Well, the way I see it. You can run off and try and have a life, you can go back to them and beg for mercy and probably lose your head, or you can try something with me and lose your body in pieces. Starting with your manhood," I growled.

"You owe me for what happened out there," he growled, "I risked my life for you."

"And you knew going in there that I wanted her to kill you. Unfortunately she thought that the venom would affect you so she didn't snap your neck," I growled back.

"Because of how failed an experiment I was Aro was hoping you'd get rid of me so he didn't have to get his hands dirty anyway," he said.

"Then go off and try to live a normal life. It's not like you look out of the ordinary," I growled.

"I would love to but something is holding me here with you," he said brushing his fingertips against my neck.

I jumped away from his touch, "It's called being an arrogant son of a bitch!" I snarled.

He was like a snake with his fluid movements and I somehow found myself in a corner a few moments later. I was starting to regret thinking I could spend one night without him trying something. "Maybe it's something to do with the fact that your blood runs through my body," he suggested his hands pinning my arms to my sides and my back against the wall, "Or it's possible that your scent after a kill is intoxicating." This was worse than the dream I'd had back in Italy.

I felt his lips against my neck and fought hard against the hormones that he was building in me. Bull shit had Aro thought he was a failed experiment. He wanted a shifter baby from the beginning and had chosen the most persistent seducer he could find. I didn't know, nor did I care if he really could turn another person into a shifter but he wasn't getting anything further if it killed me. "Rick, I really don't want to have to kill you. I'd really like to believe that you could be a good person if given the chance," I said as he pressed his lips to my collar bone probably trying to elicit some kind of reaction from me.

"Oh please babe, you're just as susceptible to a man's charm as any other chick out there," he purred against my skin. At least to his credit he was trying to be nice about potentially raping me.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear," I growled finding my voice as he tried to get under my shirt, "You're not getting lucky with me and if you continue on this path I will kill you even if I don't want to."

"No, sweetheart, I don't think you understood me. I'm not going back to Volterra without a child that I get from you," he said pushing me hard against the wall. My head thumped against the wall harder than the rest of my body and I felt dizzy, he must have taken it as submission because he continued working his hand under my tank top, "There's a good girl," he purred returning his lips to my collar bone.

I really hated killing people, which is why I hadn't yet gotten blood on my hands. But Rick had made the mistake of thinking I was submitting and had let his grip on my arms go. I let my claws slide down my fingers bracing myself in case he noticed and threw me back against the wall again. To my luck he was too focused on touching ever part of my skin under my shirt that when I shoved my claws through his chest and into his heart the only thing that flashed through his eyes was surprise and then pain as he realized he was bleeding out.

I didn't let go of his heart in my hand until he'd ceased moving. And even then I was so numb that I didn't let go for a good while after that. I was a bloody mess when my mind finally returned to the present. I walked numbly to the bathroom and showered until the water had finally run clear.

I wrapped myself in a warm towel before walking into the kitchen to find something to eat. There wasn't anything but a couple bottles of wine. "Of course," I complained, "owned by bloodsuckers…" I retreated to the bedroom, my stomach growling hungrily at me and curled into the sheets of the bed. "What's happened to me, Seth?" I asked the blackness.

I felt tears slip from my eyes onto the plush pillow and tried to think of Seth's happiest moments. _His brown eyes stared at me in the early morning. "I brought you breakfast. Thought you'd be hungry," his white smile was so childish yet it held the warmth of someone twice his age._

"_There's more food here than I can eat," I laughed sitting up in bed._

_He ran a hand through his thick black hair, "Well I was hungry too," he laughed._

Memories of him hurt. Memories of his smile hurt worse. But the memory that hurt the worst was the look on his face when I had told him that things would never work between us. _"I love you," _he'd said and those words seemed to echo around the room now.

I returned to the bathroom and dug my cell out of my bloody pants and dialed Lara, "Hello?"

"Lara," my voice shook with how much I'd been crying.

"Oh god Rikki, what happened?" she asked.

"I know you didn't know at the time you could save him…I know that…but it…it just hurts so much and I don't know why," I felt more tears spill over my cheeks.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Still at the cabin…" I replied trying to cease my tears.

"I'll come up, do you need anything?" Lara asked.

"Well there isn't any food up here and my one set of clothes is drenched in Rick's blood," I said, "And honestly a volcano spewing chocolate lava wouldn't hurt."

"I can bring you up some food and a new set of clothes but I'm pretty sure I can't make the mountain spew chocolate," she sounded like she wanted to laugh but how much I was hurting made her very serious.

"Lara," I paused holding back more tears.

"I know Rikki. I'll see you soon," and with that the phone went dead and I found myself wandering back to the bedroom to sulk.

**A/N: Okay so I just decided that Seth needed more of a mention in this story since he died too early for my liking. Maybe Lara can bring him back like how she made Dante appear. I'd love that and I know you guys would too so I'll see if it fits in another chapter.**


	22. Book Twenty

**Book Twenty: Rikki and Lara**

**Sunday – October 21, 2012**

When Lara showed up I dressed while she lit a fire and warmed up the food she'd brought with her. "So you gonna tell me why there's a dead bloody body still on the floor?" she asked.

"It's my first kill," I said blankly, "didn't know what to do with it."

"Okay, well here, eat some soup while I do something with it," she said handing me a bowl.

I ate slowly feeling the warmth fill me from the inside out. By the time I finally felt full the pot of soup she'd been making was practically empty and the room smelled less like blood. I noticed she'd gotten rid of the body and the floor had been cleaned.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lara asked and I wasn't sure if she meant Rick's dead body or my missing Seth so I just shook my head. "Why did you call me out here?" she asked wrapping a large blanket around me. She was younger than me but at the moment she felt like an older sister I'd never had.

"I don't remember," I said glad for the warmth of the blanket around me until I noticed it smelled like Seth. I shrugged it off curling closer to the fire for warmth.

"What is your issue? You're acting like Bella when Edward left!" Lara growled at me.

"Didn't you ever lose someone that you didn't know was important until they were gone?" I growled back.

"We all lost people when this life was thrust upon us," she said growing more compassionate.

"That's not what I mean. I dealt with that months ago," I said, "But I watched Seth die…I was mad at you when I found out you gave Paul immunity from the vampire venom…but I didn't blame you, even then."

"I know," she said placing a hand on my shoulder, "You know I would have done something if I could."

"That isn't my point. I never blamed you because I froze up watching him die. I could have turned him into a true shifter and he would have lived through being bitten. But I was too numb with pain watching him die to think let alone move," I felt more tears filling my eyes.

"And you called me because you want me to bring him back," Lara said matter-of-factly.

"No… yes… I don't know," I replied, "I just wish there was something else I could have done for him."

"You feel guilty that you pushed him away," Lara said it wasn't a question.

"I'm afraid that if I hadn't pushed him away he might still be alive," I said as Lara wrapped her arms around me, "I want him back…I miss him so much it hurts and I don't even know why."

"Maybe you did love him, you just didn't know it until it was too late," she said.

"You can't bring him back can you?" I asked suddenly pulling out of her embrace so that I could see her face.

She looked away from me, "When you left for Australia I tried, plenty of times to bring him back as a human, as anything, I wanted you to come back so badly I was trying to resurrect his body. But try as I might there was never an instant that I was able to bring any part of him back. It was like…" she looked back at me, her eyes taking on a sort of horrified look, "It was like his soul had disappeared from the world."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I was able to bring Callie or a part of her to me when I first discovered my powers, and when I did it was like I could feel her soul when I called her to me. With Dante it was the same, it was like I pulled at his soul and before long his body had materialized before my eyes," Lara said.

"So you tried to find his soul and you couldn't find it?" I asked.

"Well, when you first left I'd gone to the reservation to see why and his soul seemed to cling to his body like he was waiting to be healed and so I tried to heal him but the body was so cold…colder than me," she shivered at what I had to assume was the memory as I wasn't looking into her thoughts at the time, "and I kept that up for days. And then it happened one day, his soul just left. I tried to find it but it was like it had dropped off the face of the Earth."

We sat in silence as she remembered the events and I watched with her as she played through the events. "I'm sorry to have put you through that," I said wrapping my arms around her as she'd done for me earlier.

She wrapped the blanket around my shoulders again and smiled at me, "I just keep reminding myself that the reason I couldn't feel his soul anymore was because he's in a better place. You know, like heaven or the eternal hunting grounds that wolves supposedly go to."

"Thanks," I said though I didn't know why. She'd managed to make me feel worse but I really was happy for her telling me these things.

"You'll find someone that loves you even more than Seth could have. Don't worry about it," Lara encouraged me.

She stayed with me that night as I slept wrapped in Seth's blanket next to the fireplace. I might miss him forever but I felt like he was closer than ever as I slept with his memories.

**Tuesday – July 9, 2013**

In the past few months I'd studied medicine from Carlisle because I'd decided I'd work in hospitals. I'd gotten a job at a local hospital in Seattle taking care of the memory loss patients. I brought them meals, got them to take their medications, changed their bedding, and took them for walks, and occasionally I'd allow them to think I was a date that had come to see them in the hospital.

"Hey Rikki, you can go home now," one of the other nurses called to me from outside a room.

"I'm just trying to get Johnson to take his medication," I replied.

"You know how nasty those pills are," the elderly man we all called Johnson was saying.

"You like seeing me every day don't you?" I asked in my sweetest voice.

"Of course. You're the prettiest nurse," Johnson said.

"Well if you can't take those pills I can't come back tomorrow. There are plenty of other patients here who make my job so much easier," I said.

"But you told me you liked the bad boys," he winked at me but he swallowed his pills anyway.

"And you're the baddest of them all," I laughed going to clock out.

"Miss Winters?" a woman asked me as I turned to walk out the front door of the hospital.

"Yes?" I replied.

"I need to ask you a favor," she said.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short but hey I gotta move stuff now so ya. Last chapter till Monday! Sorry guys to leave you with a cliffy but I promise you'll like what you read when it comes back.**


	23. Book TwentyOne

**Book Twenty-One: Rikki and Memory Lane**

**Wednesday – July 10, 2013**

"I'm sorry, I just got off a late shift and I'm really tired, can this possibly wait until tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'm afraid it can't," the woman said, "My name is Elizabeth Turner, my nephew is in a coma and, well my husband and I heard that you worked wonders with memory loss patients…"

"I work well with memory loss patients because I want to forget things of my own and they help me do that. I'm sorry Mrs. Turner but I don't see how I can be of any help," I said.

"I've talked with the director of the hospital. He's okayed your moving stations with your same pay and a raise if you want the position. You can work whenever you would like to and you don't need to request time off if you need it all you have to do is tell me," she seemed desperate.

"What exactly would you have me do?" I asked.

"Anything the nurses would normally do. Change his bedding, set up his IV drips, and if you're not comfortable with any of that just sit with him, talk to him… You forge bonds so strongly that we're hoping that it'll bring him out of his coma," Mrs. Turner said.

"Even if I can wake him up Mrs. Turner there's no guarantee that he'll live. I mean how long has he been in a coma?" I asked cursing myself for even considering this position.

"A little over four years," she said.

"His body is probably giving out by now, I'm sorry…but his muscle function even if he wakes up will be shaky at best. It would take a miracle for him to live if my so called connections were to wake him up," I said.

"Please, just sleep on it. The director wants you to see him before you start your usual shift anyway," she said.

"Very well. I'll come see him," I sighed, "But I can't promise anything more than that."

"Thank you Miss Winters," she said.

"Please, call me Rikki," I said.

**Thursday – August 15, 2013**

"Hey Aaron," I said sitting in the chair next to his bed. I'd seen him a month ago and couldn't say no to his aunt who desperately wanted a personal care taker for him. "Sorry it's been a couple days since I was last in. A good friend of mine was getting married. Maybe you were able to read the Twilight series before you went into your coma…well you're a guy so you probably didn't. But Bella and Edward are my friends. Ya, I know I've told you this before but a couple days ago they got married. It was a beautiful event and of course Alice had roped me into helping," I sighed and brushed a stray black chunk of hair off his face, "I wish I knew you could hear me in there. I mean if I were any less sane I'd admit myself to the mental clinic upstairs."

His blank sleeping face stared back at me in a way that made me hope I hadn't been right in telling his aunt there was no hope. Seeing this twenty-two year old in a coma was heartbreaking. "My parents and my girlfriend died in an attack on the house and I was the only survivor," his blank expression seemed to say, "and they were everything in the world to me so I just lost the will to live." It was heartbreaking really. I wanted so badly to tell him everything would be okay but the truth was, it wouldn't. He'd lost everything and only a couple months later had he slipped into his coma.

"Oh you're back," Elizabeth said coming into the room, "How was the wedding?"

"Gorgeous. I wish it had been mine," I sighed, "I brought pictures if you'd like to see." She sat down next to me as I fished the bundle of pictures out of my bag.

"What were you telling him about before I stopped you?" she asked.

"The wedding. I can tell you everything too if you'd like," I sighed internally, well not everything I mean the fact that I watched a vampire marry a human with my wolf brethren that I left for an attempt at a normal life would never be mentioned with her in the room.

"Oh well then don't mind me. Please, I can look at these pictures. Actually, I was just checking on him before I got breakfast. Would you like something?"

"My usual would be great actually," I said.

"Blueberry muffin and an espresso right?" she asked.

"Actually, I'd rather have the green tea this morning now that you mention it," I shrugged, "Got to work off that wedding cake," I patted my stomach even though I knew my metabolism was so high I could easily have gotten away with eating anything I wanted.

She laughed, "Okay sure, whatever you say miss skinny ass."

"High metabolism. Genetics," I shrugged.

"Call it whatever you like," she quieted her laugh to giggles, "I still hate you for that perfect figure."

"I'm only twenty," I laughed as she closed to the door behind her. I turned back to Aaron, his dark skin didn't reveal how long he'd been in here but that was probably because his father was Native American and his mother had been Hispanic. "So, like I was saying about the wedding. Alice made me wear this silver dress that didn't match any of the colors that everyone else was told to wear. She said it showed off my green eyes and red hair too well," I laughed, "Like they need to be shown off. I mean if you could only see the vivid colors I sport every day." I thought, hopefully, that I'd seen one corner of his lips curl into almost a smirk, "I mean my hair is so red you'd think that I dye it, but it's natural. And I still startle myself when I look into a mirror to see how green my eyes are. It reminds me of the forest that I used to run in with my brothers and sister," I stopped I'd unearthed memories of Seth again and I hated when that happened.

I looked at Aaron, his face still blank but somehow I felt him urge me to go on. Like he liked my stories of my white fur and the trees that surrounded La Push and Forks, "It makes me feel free," he seemed to say to me.

"Free from your chains of this horrible hospital," I whispered more to myself but he seemed to acknowledge that that was exactly what he meant. "Well the wedding was outside and in the Cullens' back yard. Alice and I set it up so it was like stepping into a summer dream. The forest seemed to open up and allow you inside, and the flowers she and I put around everywhere. It was like it had snowed flower petals. One of those moments I like being more than human, you know so that my human allergies didn't act up." I smiled as I imagined him laughing at my joke, "Bella's dress was gorgeous as well. It was sort of old style from the 1800's but with a modern twist. I think Alice probably hand designed it," I laughed, "But it fit her and Edward so well. Her parents of course knew by this time that she was marrying a vampire, but somehow the rest of the human audience was unaware of the fact. I mean, everyone in Forks has read the Twilight series, you'd think they'd put two and two together."

"But the best part of everything was just seeing how happy she was. Bella, I mean. After everything she and I have gone through and her relationship with Edward and Jake…It was just nice to see her eyes shining with every hope that tomorrow would bring," I let my memories drift back to that day seeing her brown hair all done up in a way that screamed Alice but felt so Bella. Charlie walking her down the aisle trying not to cry. There had been so much love in that outdoor perfection that it was hard to believe how much work had gone in the day before. I mean Lara had to make flowers bloom like it was spring and Valkyrie had to be so focused on being happy so that it wouldn't rain. But in that moment that Bella and Edward had looked at each other to say their vows, it seemed effortless. I'd looked to Lara then and she was looking lovingly at Dante. I didn't have to guess what they were thinking of course. I knew. She was hoping that someday they'd have a day as magical as this, and could imagine herself standing in Bella's place with Dante in Edward's. Dante on the other hand was busy fiddling with the ring in his pocket. He'd wait until the wedding was over and Bella and Edward had been sent off because of course he didn't want to steal the attention from the bride and groom but he couldn't wait another whole day. Valkyrie and Paul on the other hand had opted for a different mindset. Ever since he'd been cured of his affliction to vampire venom they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Valkyrie knew as soon as the day was over they'd have a high that wouldn't be easily satisfied and that thrilled her. Paul on the other hand was too busy looking at her in the moment. She had been dressed in a green silk dress with her blonde hair pulled into a loose bun with a cascade of ringlet curls. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off the way they just barely touched her skin sending her light vampire sent to him with an intensity that seemed to make his skin tingle. Which automatically had made my thoughts drift to Jacob who still hadn't given up hope that if Bella didn't have a daughter I'd come around to him. He knew all too well that Seth's death had affected me in ways almost worse than Leah's but he hadn't given up the idea that he could help me forget that pain.

I jumped slightly when the door opened and Elizabeth walked in with my muffin and tea, "I'm sorry. It was a beautiful story that you were telling him. I didn't mean to interrupt," she said. I hadn't realized I'd been vocalizing all my memories of the wedding.

"That's okay. You stopped me just in time, if I'd been allowed to continue any longer it would have gone from beautiful to sad," I sighed and sipped on the paper cup of tea she'd brought.

"This Seth that you were talking about. Was he a boyfriend of yours that died?" she asked.

"No. We had four years of an age gap so I thought of him more as a little brother. But he definitely had a crush on me. I'd told him flat out that I just couldn't get over the age gap because of a little sister I used to have that was his age and he died a couple days later. I keep thinking back on it and I think it was just about the last thing I'd ever said to him. It's one of the biggest regrets I have," I said. I looked back over at Aaron and wondered what the last thing he'd said to his girlfriend was before she'd been killed before his eyes and left for dead.

In an instant his hand was on mine in a grip that shouldn't have been possible for a four year coma patient, not to mention one that I couldn't escape from. His eyes flashed open in a haze of brown before they were electric blue and he stared at me for what felt like forever, "Katie?" I froze. I hadn't used that name in over a year. How had he known? It wasn't anything that I'd ever mentioned to him either. "I'm here," he said and then his hand was falling away from mine and his eyes were closed again.

I hadn't realized until the moment I sunk to my knees that I'd stood up. "Seth?" the name was barely a breath and I quickly traced over the events in my mind. It hit me like a truck; his eyes had flashed brown before they were blue. My Seth was in this body and now I had the determination that I'd needed for Aaron to wake up. If he had a connection to Seth, I could forget the pain I was feeling and I could start fresh, maybe even be with him.

**A/N: So Ya, Seth's coming back! YAY! I was going to make you guys wait another chapter for that reveal but I decided it was a nice thing to do to let you guys see it now.**


	24. Book TwentyTwo

**Book Twenty-Two: Rikki Forever 21**

**Thursday – October 10, 2013**

It had been almost two months since Aaron had woken up just long enough for me to know Seth was still alive. I hadn't taken a day off in that entire span of two months. And it was almost my birthday. I figured if Seth would resurface anytime in two months after that it would have to be tomorrow. Which was coming in about…twenty minutes.

"_Katie_," his voice echoed in my mind, "_I'm here_."

I looked down at the table beside his bed. There were no cameras in here for his privacy, not that he cared, but it worked wonders for what I'd wanted to do. The syringe stared back at me in all its silver glory. I'd worked with enough patients to know that a little of my blood had healing effects, and in larger quantities it made more of my kind. Most of which had died going through the transformation. I'd never tried it on a coma patient but this was Seth. This was also why I hadn't already drawn my blood and administered it to him.

"Rikki?" Jacob's voice made me jump.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Lara and Valkyrie have been a little worried. You usually at least call them if you're working over the weekends," his voice said worlds more than that. Bella wasn't pregnant and he hadn't imprinted and he missed my weekend visits.

I couldn't bring myself to say that it was Seth here because I just couldn't. "I didn't realize how into my work I was getting. I'll definitely make it back this weekend," I promised though I wasn't sure if I could make myself leave Seth.

**Friday – October 11, 2013 – Midnight**

"Rikki…" Jake looked at me for a good long minute, "Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Jake," I said and I stood and wrapped my arms around him wanting so badly to be hugged and told everything would work out.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. "So Bella lived to be nineteen," he said and I knew there was hurt in his voice because he knew I didn't feel any romantic feelings for him.

"And isn't pregnant yet. I got that much. Maybe I should just take an early weekend…come and see everyone and we can celebrate my turning of legal age to drink," I laughed.

"You and I both know the smell of alcohol makes you sicker than the smell of vampires," he chuckled. He buried his nose in my hair and then recoiled slightly, "How long have you been here? You smell like hospital," he grumbled.

"I don't know. I shower in the employee bathrooms for those of us who work late shifts and I don't really tend to go home. Days have just blurred together," I shrugged.

"Okay, you are definitely coming home for an early weekend with me tonight," Jacob said, "Like now."

"Give me an hour?" I asked because he had a firm grip on my waist and I didn't think I had the strength to fight him tonight. I mean I hadn't slept in at least three days waiting for Seth to re-awaken.

"Is that your one birthday wish you're invoking on me? Because you're only getting one from me," Jacob warned. His thoughts were a jumble of things that he wanted me to ask instead so that he knew I was okay. I mean I wanted an extra hour with a guy that might never wake up. I was starting to sound a bit out of it.

"Yes, that's my one birthday wish. One hour and I'll come take a mini holiday. I've got to let his guardian know that I'm leaving and set a nurse on him before we can leave anyway," I said.

"I'll give you two hours then, how about that? And then we are on the road, no looking back, and on the way to a birthday celebration for you," Jacob said.

"Yes alpha," I teased as he ruffled my hair.

In the first hour that Jacob had left me alone with Aaron/Seth I'd curled myself up against him on the bed and tried to make out his thoughts. I needed to know if Aaron was still in there too. But it was like hitting a brick wall. So, still curled up beside him, I sent a quick text to Elizabeth telling her that a friend of mine had come into town with an emergency back home that needed my attention. I also told her that I'd make sure a nurse watched over him after I left.

_I felt a strange sensation come over my body as I clicked send and realized that Aaron or Seth was rubbing my back. I looked over quickly to see a pair of electric blue eyes staring at me. "Seth?" I asked not sure who it was that was looking at me in this moment._

"_Ya, it's me," his voice was different. Not quite Seth, but in the home videos I'd seen of Aaron, it wasn't his voice either. "Am I finally old enough for you?" he asked and my heart sank._

"_I'm sorry…If I'd known what was going to happen…" I felt tears spring to my eyes._

"_Don't apologize. You said how you felt and I said how I felt. I still feel the same, I want to know if you do too or if you've changed," he said and his hand was on my cheek then, "You seem to be more attracted to a set of blue eyes anyway."_

_I thought for a moment. He wanted to know if I'd changed but he said he still felt the same, "You still feel the same?" I asked not sure exactly how else to respond._

"_I still love you," he said, "I want to know if you love me."_

_I crumbled, "I don't know. I was so damaged when you died that I tried to forget you'd ever lived…but I never got a chance to try," I stared into his now blue eyes I felt something between us, a pull of sorts. But was it love or was it just my way of coping with him being gone and reappearing?_

"_Will you give us a chance then?" he asked. I nodded more tears spilling out of my eyes, "You really should stop crying. It's your birthday after all. Are you going to make a birthday wish?"_

_I thought for a moment, it was my birthday. His hand was still on my cheek and I suddenly found myself yearning to know what more of his touch would feel like, "Kiss me?" I asked._

_He obliged taking my mouth on his. It was tender but filled with so much passion it was overwhelming. It had been a year since he'd been considered dead, over a year in fact. And now I had him back. Now I felt whole again and I felt myself kiss him back and an almost animalistic growl in the back of my throat that made me know my wolf was happy too. He smiled against my lips as the growl rumbled between the two of us._

"God Rikki, I hate to wake you up when you've finally been able to sleep," Jacob's voice startled me and I realized I had fallen asleep against Aaron…no Seth. Aaron was obviously gone, and now it was just Seth. "Your two hours are up; I've already asked a nurse to watch the guy. Come on, time to go," Jacob said pulling me to my feet.

I could still feel the tingle on my lips from the kiss I'd shared with Seth and had to remind myself it had been a dream. Suddenly I wished I'd asked for the rest of the night and not just two hours. "I can't just leave him here," I said unaware of my own words.

"He's a coma patient, Rikki. It's work, let it go and have a weekend to make yourself better," he said practically carrying me out of the room.

I still couldn't find a way to make me tell him that it was Seth. "Wait," I said as I found my voice. He let me go and gave me the look of the alpha I'd known to ignore, "Let me just do one thing before we leave."

"You already used up your birthday wish missy, time to go," Jacob said.

I dashed back into the room and grabbed the syringe off the counter and drew just enough of my blood that I knew had helped patients recover their memories. "Just let me give this to him. Let me try and wake him up for his family," I said.

"You're crazy," he said but he let me administer my blood to his IV. "Okay, you've worked your little stunt. Time to go," he said ready to carry me back out but I followed this time as I said my silent good-byes and good-lucks to Seth. The weekend wouldn't last forever and I'd be back and we'd pick up where we left off.

**Saturday – October 12, 2013**

Everyone had been nice enough to let me sleep through my birthday before throwing a huge party. But it was the big two-one so I didn't think it would be left unnoticed.

"Happy Birthday," Alice said giving me a hug. I'd just woken up and she was, of course, the first to be there when I woke up.

"What kind of torment do you have planned for me today?" I asked.

"Torment?" Alice asked honestly confused, "It's a party! Come on, I know you hate alcohol do you really think I'd have it at your party?"

"That's not what I meant Alice. I just seems your parties always put me in some kind of physical or mental pain," I laughed lightheartedly, "I do tend to enjoy them though, never a dull moment."

"Oh, you're hilarious. Besides, I've already seen your future and you're not going to be in any kind of torment today," Alice beamed.

"Where's the dress?" I asked.

"You saw that one coming, of course. But I just finished it so you'll have to try it on and tell me what you think," she giggled, "It's in the closet."

I sighed and showered using the old body spray I'd used before my eternity in the hospital. Rum Berry from Bath and Body Works. The only thing I liked better than the smell of the body spray was the woodsy scent that always came around me when I shifted into a wolf.

When I'd dried off I changed into the dress Alice had mentioned. It was white, as things constantly where when she could help it; I mean the dress I'd worn to Bella's wedding was only silver because it was tacky to outshine the bride in a white gown. But this dress was simple and elegant. It was a simple one shoulder dress that came to just above my knees in an almost feathery pattern that shimmered in the light. But what took my breath away was how the shoulder looked on my arm. It looked like bandages from a wolfish-scratch or something but in a way that was elegant and didn't look like it was hiding a wound. There were bands of blue, green and purple that was hidden in the folds just visible enough that they only showed when I moved in just the right way.

"I told you, you'd love it," Alice beamed.

"You do actually know me pretty well. I really should give you more credit," I laughed.

"It was part of a line I created for you and Lara and Valkyrie. You'll see the dress's sisters when you see your two besties," she giggled.

She was right of course about the dress having sisters. Valkyrie's was a strapless version that sported the color change in a pleated handkerchief skirt but in black rather than white. Whereas Lara's was a tan, almost tope version with cap sleeves that sported the colors through the bust through a chevron stripe pattern. All three dresses had the same shimmery feather-like pattern to the body fabric but they all looked so different that I wondered how Alice had thought to turn them into a collection.

"Okay. So I know your birthdays are all kind of in different months and technically Valkyrie and Lara won't be aging anymore…but I wanted to give you guys the finished collections as a present. They're designed with all three of you in mind," Alice was giving a speech, it was odd even for the little pixie but that was Alice for you, "so obviously the collections are titled Rikki, Lara and Valkyrie."

"If the dresses are any indication of the rest of the clothes, I'm impressed even for your standards," I said and I raised my glass of sparkling cider, "A toast to Alice!" The wolves and I were the only ones that ate or drank anything besides Bella so not many people actually toasted but she got my thanks anyway.

The festivities continued with gifts that included the three of us. But by the end of the day news from plenty of other people were coming out.

"So, Rikki…I think you already knew that he was going to propose…but Dante and I are getting married," Lara said and I had to laugh, it was good to see her this happy.

"Ya, I already knew," I laughed, "Are you letting Alice plan everything?"

"You think I have a choice?" she laughed, but I knew after Bella's wedding either of us would have been a fool not to let Alice plan either of our weddings – if I ever had one.

"It's good to see you so happy," I smiled warmly at her.

Then it was Valkyrie's news, apparently weather manipulation wasn't her only gift, "I know this is really strange…but I'm pregnant," she couldn't have been more happy than she was in that moment. She'd obviously been waiting for the right time to tell everyone and she had a sort of glow to her.

"That's literally amazing," I said, "Congratulations you two," I addressed both her and Paul seeing as he never left her side. Probably wolf intuition telling him to protect his female.

And then I was looking to Bella, hoping that she was pregnant but she just looked at me and shook her head. _Not yet._ She seemed to say to me, _We're trying…_

With the party over now I walked to the river behind the Cullens' house. It was a peaceful night and I wanted to bring back the wonder of home and the woods when I returned to Seth. "Rikki," Jacob's voice irritated me.

"I was trying to take in the night air," I said as he came to stand beside me.

"I know…it's just with all the news that was being shared today, I just thought now might be the best time," I didn't like how I couldn't see what he was thinking.

"Jake, listen if you're going to try and talk me into coming home because Bella's not pregnant and there's a chance for us…just don't. I don't want to keep hurting you like this," I said but it was too late. He'd already taken my hand in his.

"I still haven't given you your birthday gift," he said pulling a gold band out of his pocket.

"Stop, Jake… I can't and I won't," I sighed trying to keep myself together.

"Look, Rikki, I understand you're broken and that it's because Seth's gone but I promise you that I can make you forget eventually," he said trying to take my hand back.

I lost it, "Jacob… He's alive. Seth is alive, and I think I might be in love with him so just don't."

"Rikki, you're spending too much time with that coma patient, it's making you delusional," Jacob said.

"I told you about the time he woke up right? How he said _my_ name. Not Rikki, but my _real_ name," I stared at Jacob for a long moment before he nodded, "Seth is in there somewhere. And I'm going to get him out no matter what it takes."

"Rikki…" Jacob was verging on angry.

"And even if you think I'm crazy and delusional and maybe you're right…I still wouldn't marry you," I said and I knew it would hurt him, "We're not good for each other Jake."

**Sunday – October 13, 2013**

Leah was driving me back to Seattle after all the festivities. I'd hurt Jacob too badly and everyone else had things they needed to get done. "So Jacob tells me you think my little brother is still alive and living in a coma patient," she said as if it were natural every day conversation.

"Leah…I don't think…I know," I said.

"I trust you. I never thought he was really gone anyway," she said turning toward the hospital, "I never gave you your birthday gift."

"Enough gifts, please. I'm already sure that half of this new stuff won't fit in my apartment," I said.

She handed me a brown bag, "If you really think it is my brother and you think you have feelings for him, this ought to bring him out and make him strong enough."

I looked inside. There were three syringes full of blood, "Leah what is this?"

"It's my blood. It'll heal his muscles and give his body the strength it needs to recover. Don't worry; he won't shift into a wolf. We have to be born that way. I just thought it would be better than trying more of your Shifter blood and possibly killing him," she said as we pulled up to the front of the hospital, "I'll get everything into your apartment for you. Just focus on him and you."

"This really is the best birthday gift ever Leah, thank you." And with that she drove off and I was left wandering into Seth's room.

Elizabeth was standing next to his bed in tears. She looked up when I entered but then back to Seth…no she thought he was Aaron.

"What's wrong Liz?" I asked setting my bag down discreetly.

"Oh…sorry Rikki…It's just, my husband told me that we didn't have the money to keep up on Aaron's medical bills. He's paid off till the end of the month and then he's signed a release that allows them to stop life support," she said and my world came crashing down. I had less than three weeks to get Seth awake and living on his own or he would be lost to me forever.

**A/N: So ya...there's your next chapter. Warning you now that the story is getting close to being over. So if you guys want a sequal you're gonna have to start reviewing. I've got ideas but not enough inspiration to write one yet, maybe with some reader ideas I can be influenced to write a sequal.**


	25. Book TwentyThree

**Book Twenty-Three: Rikki and Seth**

**Sunday – October 20, 2013**

_I bided my time until Elizabeth had left the room before immediately dosing Seth's new body with the first of Leah's syringes. My blood had already given him more muscle definition than was natural for a four year coma patient but I could almost feel her heat working through his body as I visualized the blood running through his body._

That was a week ago. Today I was administering the last dose that Leah had given me and I hoped that it was enough to wake him up. I'd turned in my two week notice a few days ago saying that when the boy was taken off life support I was going off into the world to find my calling, even though it looked as if I'd found my calling.

It was probably eleven o'clock already. Easily time that I should be slipping away to my own bed to sleep. But in the past week I'd been so scared that he'd slip away from me in the night that I'd taken to sleeping next to him in the hospital bed. I hadn't been able to share a consciousness with him since my birthday and I needed desperately to tell him he needed to fight to regain control over this body or I'd lose him forever. But tonight I felt his pull and as soon as I drifted into a soft slumber he was there.

_We weren't in the hospital bed like the previous dream had been like I'd never fallen asleep. Tonight he'd pulled my memory of how peaceful the night was after the birthday bash with the Cullens and instead he was standing just near the edge of the river. His blue eyes shone in the darkness as if they were his wolf eyes. Every part of me called out to him but my voice. I didn't want to ruin this moment with words and it was obvious he didn't want to waste words because the second the distance was closed between us he was kissing me. It wasn't soft like before, it was wanting, it was animalistic, and I was a slave to it as much as he was. I could only imagine how many times he'd wanted to hold me this way, how many times he'd tried and I'd pushed him away; but all that mattered right now was that I was with him and he was with me and we would find a way for this to work._

_When he'd decided that he'd filled enough of his desire to kiss me he laid down on the grass by the edge of the river and looked up at the stars, or possibly me, I couldn't tell, but I laid down next to him and let him wrap an arm around my shoulders. I felt safe, warm and more than anything I felt home. "I can't wait until we can do this in somewhere other than my trapped mind," he said as I rested my head on his chest._

_I cursed under my breath, "Seth…They're pulling your life support in a little over a week."_

_I heard his breath catch momentarily and then he sighed, "I heard. I've been fighting a fog for the past week. Whatever you've been doing up there is starting to work."_

"_I'd asked Lara to pull your consciousness farther forward a couple days ago, but it didn't seem to do anything," I said reaching up to touch my nose to his neck._

"_You really do have a wolf spirit," he laughed and he rested his chin on my head._

"_How do you think I came to love you?" I asked and then realized I'd admitted what I'd been trying to figure out for the past week. I loved him._

"_Did you just…?" he couldn't bring himself to say the words._

"_Yes Seth Clearwater, I just said that I love you," I said propping myself up on one of my elbows and giving him a quick kiss._

"_Do you know how long I've waited to hear you say that?" he asked._

"_I'm sorry it took me so long," I said as he pulled me back into another kiss. It was more like the first kiss and it sent shivers through my body. I wanted him and he wanted me, but this was still just a dream and we'd have to wake up eventually._

"_I'm just glad you came to say it at all," he said and I realized there were tears just exiting the corners of his eyes. I brushed them away before standing and offering a hand to pull him up. "Now I have something to really fight for," he said jumping to his feet in a way that was so much like the boy he'd been. I couldn't help noticing how much of a man he'd become in the past year, beyond his physical appearance._

"_Wake up Seth, I've always been here and I won't leave," I said but I could already feel myself being pulled into my body that was waking up, "Wake up for me Seth."_

I cursed as I opened my eyes and looked at a clock. It was five in the morning. I could easily have had a couple more hours with him than I'd gotten. "Wake up for me Seth," I repeated in my awakening body.

**Sunday – October 27, 2013**

In a week I saw physically the fight Seth was having trying to wake up. Even in a coma he moved and his brain activity spiked and I had to fight hard not to ask Leah for more of her blood because with all the activity more nurses were assigned to check up on him. I left his side only to use the restroom and to get food when there was no one around to do that for me. But today I felt something coming, something big. If he didn't wake up today I was going to lose hope that he ever would.

I'd changed all his bedding and his IV drip and was washing the sweat off his face and chest when it happened. His eyes flew open and I had to fight hard to keep my voice low so people didn't come running in. "Enjoying what you're finding?" he asked his eyes glowing with some mischievous glint.

"Well it's definitely more to look at then the elderly men I've had to give sponge baths to," I giggled. My Seth was awake, he was here.

"I don't know how much time I've got this time, Rikki… The coma is still pulling heavy at me. You mentioned something to someone about Leah's blood. Is that what's giving my body strength again?" he asked.

"Ya, why?" I asked.

"It's not enough. I know you've used your Shifter blood on me before; I think you need to give me another dose," he said placing a hand lightly on my arm, "Now if you can."

Without thinking I went for a syringe and drew a vial full of my blood. I healed from the prick in an instant and instead of using his IV I plunged it directly into his chest somewhere near his heart, it would take effect the fastest there. He moaned in pain slightly and I felt his grip on my hand tighten ever so slightly. This had to work because there was a nurse scheduled to check on him any second now.

"You didn't have to do it there," Seth groaned rubbing the spot where I'd injected my blood.

"You said you didn't know how much time there was and I couldn't risk another nurse coming in finding my blood on your IV again. I had to write it off as a cut last time," I said, "How's the fogginess?"

"Still there, but I don't have to fight it as hard," he said.

I looked at the clock; the nurse would be here within the next minute. "I love you," I said quickly giving him a quick kiss and recovering just in time for the nurse to walk in and notice he was awake.

Moments after he'd been checked over and his vitals taken I was ushered out of the room as Aaron's family and friends came to greet him. _They should be allowed to grieve for Aaron. They'll never see him again._ And that was when it hit me. Seth would have to become Aaron in order for them to check him out of the hospital with a clean bill of health. It seemed my victory of winning back my guy would be short lived.

An hour later Elizabeth came out and gave me the largest hug I'd ever received, and I'd been hugged by both Jacob and Emmett. "You brought him back! Thank you so much, Rikki," she said.

When nightfall came and visiting hours were over I stayed. I was still his primary care giver at the moment. But when I closed the door behind me Seth's words shocked me.

"I have to die," he said.

I looked at him not sure how to respond, "I just got you back," was all I could get out.

"No Rikki, I mean all those people that were here. They're all happy to see me awake because they think the guy is still alive. I'm not him. I can't ever give them what they're hoping for," he said taking my hand in his as I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Did you meet him before he slipped away?" I asked.

"He was ready to die. I provided a very easy way for him to move on. I saw his girlfriend that had died too; he was going to propose that night that she died. She looked a lot like you," Seth blushed lightly.

"You have me now," I said looping my fingers through his.

"You have to turn me, Rikki," he said looking at our hands rather than my face.

"The last couple of people that I tried that on died, Seth," I said.

"I'm stronger than they are," he said.

"Your body is only human," I said.

"You've turned a human in the past. He lived," I saw him wince and I'm sure I must have flinched when he brought up Rick, "I have something to live for."

"He was declared dead for three hours before his heart started beating again. My heart stopped for twenty-four hours when I changed," I said looking intensely into his eyes.

"Rikki," he said in a voice that made my skin electrify, "We can't be together until this is officially over."

I pulled my legs up onto the bed and leaned against his chest pulling his arm around me, "I know, I just don't want to watch you die again."

"I promise, I will always come back to you," he said using his free hand to pull my chin up so he could kiss me. "You know," he said pulling away from me just so much that our lips barely touched as he spoke he was driving me crazy, "I'm glad that I died in a way. I mean you never would have admitted your feelings for me if I was still in my wolf-shifter body."

"No, you're too important. I would have eventually learned to love you," I said.

"Oh but you melt every time you see these blue eyes. You never did that for anyone with brown eyes," he said as an animalistic growl built in his throat, "You drive me crazy, I hope you know that."

"You do the same thing to me Seth Clearwater," I replied closing the distance between our lips again.

**Monday – October 28, 2013**

It was early in the morning. Just an hour before visitors would be allowed to come back and see my Seth. "Are you ready?" I asked.

He nodded and I attached the bag of my blood to his IV. I didn't try and slow the flow as this needed to be over and done with before Aaron's family came in or before a nurse came in to check on him. "Promise me that you won't watch," he said.

"What?" I'd become distracted staring at the curves of his lips for the umpteenth time that morning.

"You don't need to watch me die again. The last time was bad enough as it was, when it's done go out and tell Elizabeth that you're going home for a quick shower and a real breakfast and that you'll be back in an hour or two. Go home and change and when you get back, use all that wonderful acting talent you have and act shocked when she says that I've had a seizure," he said.

"Seth, it's not just a seizure. You watched me when I died," I couldn't help but think back to the memories he'd shared with me of my bloody body, "it's much worse than a seizure."

"Promise me Katie," he said.

I took a step back shocked that he would use my real name now of all times, "I promise."

"Good girl, now hurry up and dispose of the evidence before someone figures us out," Seth said.

Ten minutes till visiting hours. I kissed him with all the passion I could fit into a three second kiss and wished him well before following his instructions.

At home I showered and washed with the same Rum Berry body line that I loved so much and dressed in one of Alice's outfits. It was a simple pair of white-gray leggings with a very pale shade of lavender tunic top that had such a wide neck that it fell off my shoulders even though the sleeves were only down to my elbows. I looked in the mirror as I pulled my hair into a bun. I knew Seth hated when I pulled my vibrant curls back but I needed to know that when the doctors told us that he had passed away that I didn't have to worry about my hair looking dull which was always the tell-tale sign that you were grieving.

I couldn't get myself to eat anything from my own kitchen so I stopped by the mom and pop coffee shop at the end of my block and somehow managed to force down a breakfast sandwich and an espresso. When I'd managed to kill two hours I walked back to the hospital. Elizabeth was waiting for me.

"Oh good, you're here," she said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, just something minor with Aaron. He's in surgery right now," she didn't look like a woman who was about to lose her nephew.

"Why is he in surgery?" I asked suddenly worried that something had gone wrong with the change. Had I administered the blood transfusion too fast?

"Just an ulcer in his stomach. He was coughing up blood. Doctor said it was completely normal with the way that he's been fed for the past few years," she said, "But I heard that tomorrow is your last day. And since Aaron is going to be discharged as soon as he's stable I wanted to give you a token of our appreciation."

She handed me a delicately wrapped box and ushered me to sit on the couch with her. I opened it to find a beautiful pearlescent pendant with a howling wolf silhouette engraved into it, "This is gorgeous, but I can't accept it."

"Nonsense. You've worked hard when you didn't have to and I want you to have it. It's been in Aaron's father's family for generations. Aaron was going to give it to his girlfriend on the day she died as his way of proposing, but he had a ring for her too. He wanted you to have it as well," Elizabeth said pulling it out of the box and tying the leather straps behind my head.

"You're going to make me feel guilty for taking a priceless family heirloom," I said.

"Forget about it. It would go into a box never to be seen again if left to the men. Besides it's Aaron's to give and he wanted me to give it to you. Wear it proudly for us," she said.

"Thank you," I said and gave her a swift hug.

And then before I knew it the doctor was walking toward us, still in his scrubs and splattered in blood. I knew before he even spoke that Aaron was dead and that meant that Seth was currently floating in purgatory. "I'm sorry Mrs. Turner, Miss Winters, but it was much more than an ulcer. Aaron was bleeding internally in too many places…" the doctor said.

"What are you saying?" Elizabeth asked her voice shrill.

"I'm sorry, but Aaron is gone," he said looking first at me and then at Elizabeth probably because I looked sick and she looked angry.

"How did he die?" she asked, "Exactly?"

"You don't want to know that Mrs. Turner," the doctor said.

"How?" she asked again more firmly.

"He drowned in his own blood," the doctor said.

**A/N: Okay this time I liked giving you the cliffy ending! I'm so terrible I know. So there's the end of it. Hope you guys enjoyed it!**


	26. Book TwentyFour

**Book Twenty-Four: The End**

**Friday – November 1, 2013**

Seth had been dead for a full 8 hours before his heart had started again. Since he'd been in surgery when he died there wasn't an autopsy and his body had been shipped off for cremation right away. Luckily he'd woken up in time to switch bodies. That was three days ago and now I was standing here, without him, at Aaron's funeral.

Elizabeth was crying ever so slightly as she leaned against me for the service. I spoke for him even though all I'd known of him was Seth in his body. I said that in the few days he was awake in my care had been a wonderful couple of days and that I wished him happiness and peace in his new life wherever he may be. There was a gathering of his friends and family afterward but I told Elizabeth that I didn't belong in that setting. It was a place for people that truly knew him and I didn't.

"I wish you'd stay," she said, "You were just like his Katerin. And you showed him more love than she did in his final days."

"It wasn't love that I showed him, Liz. It was compassion and understanding. He'd been lost for so long like I'd been. I'm sure he's found where he belongs now. I'm sure he's found Katerin," I said.

"Well we were going to present you with a gift during the toasting session but if you really wouldn't feel comfortable, here," she handed me a small box that fit in my hand, "And you're not allowed to open that until you get home so you can't give it back to me. It was Katerin's from Aaron, but I think the two of them would want you to have it."

"Thank you, Liz. Take care," I said as I headed back toward my car. Everything had been packed up from my apartment a couple days ago and I was headed back to Forks where my Seth waited for me.

**Saturday – November 2, 2013**

I'd gotten home early that morning, to the house that I'd purchased not far off from the Cullens' house. The lights were on so I walked up to find Edward standing in my living room.

"I know you were expecting Seth," he said, "But Bella needs you right now."

I ran with Edward to the Cullens' house where I could smell the fear in Bella. Jacob was pacing outside the house. She was pregnant. When I reached her I knew automatically what was wrong. "Bella?" I asked.

"Rikki. Oh good, you can see the baby right?" she asked me as I looked around the room at the rest of the Cullens.

I crossed the room and laid a hand on Bella's swollen stomach. "Ya, Bella, I can see her," I said, "What is it that's wrong?"

"It feels like she's dying," Bella said carefully.

"She's not dying, Bella," I said although I couldn't say that I believed myself.

"Rikki, can I speak with you?" Carlisle asked.

I followed him into another room. "It's not the baby, it's Bella, right?" I asked.

He nodded, "We've tried giving her blood for the baby, and at first it helped but…I'm not sure what to do now," he said.

"I think it's time for the delivery," I said looking back toward the living room as Bella screamed out in pain.

"I believe you are right," Carlisle said.

As Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Edward rushed Bella off into the delivery room I sat with Jacob. "She'll be okay, Jake. Bella and little Nessie," I said.

"How can you be so sure?" Jacob asked.

Seth walked up then and sat down beside me, "Because she just knows these things," he said wrapping an arm protectively around my shoulders. It was becoming very Seth to make Jacob know that I was his and there was nothing he could do about it.

"The baby is strong, Jake. And Bella is stubborn," I laughed lightly, "Have a little faith."

A half hour later or so Bella had given birth and was well on her way into the three day transformation into a vampire. Jacob stopped worrying when he felt the imprint take him over and wouldn't leave little Renesmee's side. Seth seemed to calm down a bit after that and didn't feel like he constantly had to show off that I was his though he still did out of habit.

And as the sun rose above the horizon I knew it was the beginning to a long and wonderful life. I smiled at Seth as we turned down the path toward home almost forgetting about the box that Elizabeth had given me. I pulled it out and handed it to Seth, "Apparently this was Katerin's. Elizabeth wanted me to have it," I said.

He unwrapped it delicately and then peaked at it before letting me see, "I think it's sort of perfect." He kissed me gently and I felt him place a ring on my finger, "Mine, always mine," he said.

"Not the sort of proposal I was expecting," I laughed, "But I accept nonetheless."

**A/N: I'm sorry I did that to you guys with the last chapter. But I just couldn't resist. Anyway this is the last chapter for real - just an epilogue to follow and then it really is over. If there is a sequal I'm thinking it'd have to be with the kids. What kids you ask? Well Valkyrie was pregnant where we last left her, Renesmee is now born and I'm sure Seth isn't going to wait till the honeymoon to become one with Rikki. He's waited what? Four, Five years? Ya I think the poor guy deserves a little action. Review this chapter if you want to see a SethxRikki lemon.**


	27. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**Two Years Later**

Seth and I had been married for a year now and we'd had twins a few months ago only for me to find myself pregnant again a couple months later. Shifter kids. Well I have to tell you they were not fun during the nine months I carried them. You see, they don't kick like normal babies, they shift. A lot. I'd worried Seth enough times that he'd actually considered adoption and removing my ovaries until I told him that it wasn't that bad. I'd lied of course and he knew that, but they were our kids and I couldn't contain my joy when they were born.

The twins were identical boy and girl, we'd named them Grey and Lavender. The one or two on the way we'd decided already would be named later. Grey and Lavender kept our attention pretty focused on the good days. You see, like their mom and pop they liked shifting into wolves and running loose in the woods.

Valkyrie and Paul visited often as they were like our brother and sister. They'd had three kids already and had just exchanged vows a couple weeks ago. And I don't know why I would have been surprised but she was pregnant again already. It was like the two of us were fertile beyond any normal human much less any supernatural being.

Lara and Dante had been married shortly after Renesmee's birth and were glad they weren't expecting little ones. They had their hands full helping Valkyrie and I with our little ones let alone the idea of having their own. I guessed it was a good idea that they were both vampires and therefore sterile.

Bella and Edward were happy with their lives and their daughter, although her growth was unreal and her choice in men had them a little protective to say the least. Renesmee had matured to a ripe thirteen already at only two years old. She was just starting to experience puberty and therefore was all over Jacob. I just hoped my children would age normally so I'd have a good thirteen years to prepare myself for my daughter bringing boys home. I wasn't worried about my son though as he already seemed to be taking after his father. He'd probably find some girl that he crushed on from a distance and finally get up the courage to talk to her to find that she liked him too.

Actually Valkyrie's only daughter so far, Luna, already seemed to have formed an imprint on him. Ya, it seemed that her children took very much after their father, although thankfully not their tempers. I think Valkyrie and I were both glad for Lara babysitting as she could force the children back into their human bodies while she was around.

"You were right," Seth said to me as I cooked breakfast for everyone one morning, "This is a perfect life."

I felt the growing bundle of joy shift into another form and winced, I was finally starting to get used to the shifting. "I do believe someone agrees with their father," I laughed lightly, "I'm not sure how it could get more perfect."

**A/N: THE END! Hope you guys enjoyed this story. I'm seriously considering writing a sequal because this one was so much fun. But I need some reviews to get me started on the motivation to do it!**


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